Rivals By Day
by Saintsavory
Summary: It's hard to ignore the magnetism that occurs between two people with undeniable chemistry. What happens when that attraction must be suppressed because of a significant rivalry?
1. Chapter 1

Notes: Multi-chapter AU that alternates from Alex's to Piper's point of view. I hope it's easy to see whose 'voice' you're reading.

* * *

In her experience, the most consequential days were always a train wreck. She started her period the first day of high school and didn't have a clue how to make the bleeding stop. Her flight to Milan was delayed six hours when she was supposed to be at the agency three hours prior. And on the way to her own mother's funeral, the hearse got a flat tire, which took an hour to repair.

Alex Vause vowed that _this_ consequential day would be different. She'd set three alarms in two different rooms to ensure she didn't press the snooze button and fall back asleep. She'd picked out her dress the night before, looking it over carefully for any stains or creases. She'd even cut up a banana, apple and an orange and scooped the fruit into a disposable cup so that she'd have a modest breakfast on her way to the Upper West Side.

What she hadn't accounted for the next morning was no ink in her printer, a dead cell phone battery, and a torrential rain storm that was already causing urban flooding.

 _Fuck_.

Alex stepped outside of her apartment building with a newspaper held high above her head. She didn't have time to go back inside to search for an umbrella (and didn't think she owned one anyway.) The only raincoat she had was lined with fleece, and it was a hot and humid August morning. She'd rather show up with a wet head than sweaty arm pits.

"Taxi!" She raised her hand, and a yellow cab pulled over. "Upper West Side, please."

"What's the address?"

"Uh…" Alex pressed a button on her phone, forgetting that the battery was dead. "Fuck. Just drive. I'll get the address in a minute." She opened her bag and ruffled through several sheets of paper, pulling out a brochure. "962 Amsterdam Avenue."

Ten minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of La Piccola Cucina, an Italian restaurant that already smelled like meatballs and marinara. Alex paid the driver, and then stepped onto the curb in the pouring rain, once again using the newspaper for shelter. She took three steps to her right to avoid a massive puddle, and her heel got caught in a sidewalk crack and snapped.

 _Fuck_.

She removed her shoe and hobbled under the restaurant awning as quickly as she could to prevent her head from becoming entirely soaked.

A well-dressed blonde paused outside of the small entryway, closing her umbrella, effectively shooting water droplets onto Alex's black and white dress. "What the fuck?" She held her hands out and stared at the woman.

"Sorry, I didn't see you." The blonde's eyes sparkled when she laid eyes on Alex, but then she disappeared beyond a blue door.

Alex took two deep breaths, straightened her hair, and looked at the gold numbers above the three doors to her right. "962 Amsterdam," she muttered to herself. When she saw the address above the blue door, she let out an incredulous laugh and shook her head. "That's about right."

She jogged up the flight of stairs and entered the tiny lobby that looked like it had just received a fresh coat of indigo paint.

"Hi, can I help you?" A young woman with a pierced nose asked from her bright yellow desk that looked more like it belonged in a kindergarten classroom than an office.

"I'm Alex Vause. I have a 9 o'clock interview." She brushed a strand of wet hair off her cheek.

"I'll let them know you're here." The receptionist stood. "Can I get you a cup of tea or something?"

"Super glue would be nice," she sighed.

The younger woman looked confused but didn't probe further.

Alex looked down at her two inch heel that was hanging by a shiny, leather thread and grunted at the fact that she'd worn those shoes across Italian cobblestone streets for years and the pointy heels had held up just fine. Of course it was on _this_ day that those $250 pumps failed her.

A woman entered the lobby with her head bowed, apparently reading something in a manila folder. "Hi, you must be Alex."

 _Fuck_.

She immediately recognized the blonde from five minutes ago when she'd shut her umbrella, causing rain to splatter on her dress. Alex let out a _how-could-this-get-any-worse_ laugh. "I am."

After eyeing her from head to toe, the blonde extended her hand. "I'm Piper Chapman."

"Alex Vause." She shook Piper's hand as the women made eye contact. "I got caught in the rain."

The blonde smirked. "Do you like Pina Coladas?"

She creased her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"You know, the song." Piper made a motion with her hand. "If you like Pina Coladas, getting caught in the rain," she sang.

"Ah. Yes, _Escape_." She pushed her glasses higher on her nose.

The blonde shook her head. "No, the Pina Colada song."

"Yeah, the 'Pina Colada' song is called, _Escape_."

Piper turned around and began walking down the hallway. "Huh, I never knew that was the name of it. But I bet you don't know the artist."

Alex followed, trying not to hobble so conspicuously. "No, I don't."

She turned into a conference room with what looked like an old kitchen table in the middle. "Rupert Holmes. One hit wonder."

Alex glanced at Piper, who seemed pleased with her musical knowledge. The blonde was wearing a thin cream colored blouse with yellow daisies and a modest black skirt. Alex thought she _smelled_ like daisies if they had a scent. Piper's black pumps were in perfect condition, and Alex wondered if her companion had ever had such an accident in her life.

"Hi, I'm Polly." A woman about the same age as Piper shook her hand.

"Alex Vause. Nice to meet you."

Polly looked at her like she was some sort of vagabond. Upon noticing the stare, Alex announced, "I got caught in the rain." She chanced a sidelong glance at Piper, who lowered her head, but Alex could see a grin on her face.

"Please, have a seat."

Alex was grateful for the opportunity to get off her feet. She sat across from the women and opened her portfolio, ready for the interview.

Piper began the questioning. "Tell me, I mean, _us_ a little about yourself, Alex."

The slip wasn't lost on Alex. She gave the blonde a tiny smile before diving in. "I spent my younger adult years in Europe, modeling, but when the scale hit 115, they kicked me to the curb."

The women smiled.

"After that I traveled quite a bit, and then worked for a boutique marketing and public relations firm for a couple of years."

Piper flipped a page over in a folder. "What was your role at the firm?"

"Officially, I was a receptionist, but I sucked at that job." She looked away for a moment, immediately regretting her word choice. "I had my hand in all sorts of things—press releases, managing interns, writing articles, making client calls."

Polly tapped the tip of a pen against her notepad. "So, no direct sales experience?"

She tilted her head. "Not directly, no."

Piper leaned forward. "You realize this position is in sales, right?"

"Yes, I do." She eyed the blonde. "I could sell glasses to a blind man."

Polly raised her eyebrows. "Ms. Vause, we're looking for someone with _experience_."

Alex pursed her lips.

"Glancing at your resume, it looks like there's a two-year period of time unaccounted for." Piper looked up at the dark haired woman. "What were you doing during that hiatus?"

Alex knew there was no way she'd land this job. She looked like she'd been the victim of a mugging; she didn't have the requisite experience; and she got the sense that Polly didn't like her from the start. So she settled for the only thing that could explain the two years missing on her resume: the truth. "Selling drugs."

Polly spit out the water she'd just sipped, and Piper's eyebrows shot up.

"You're sitting across from us, telling us that you sold drugs?" Polly asked in a flabbergasted tone.

"That's what I'm telling you." Alex steepled her hands. "I helped an international drug cartel gross more than $50 million a year, so in answer to your previous question, _yes_ , I have sales experience."

Polly looked at her partner as if she should be the one to dismiss Alex, but the blonde just stared ahead, a surprised smile creeping onto her countenance.

"I don't think this is going to work out, Ms. Vause. Sorry we wasted each other's time," Polly closed her folder and stood.

Alex didn't remove her eyes from Piper. "It wasn't _entirely_ a waste of time."

"Becca," Polly called down the hallway. "Will you show Ms. Vause out?"

The young receptionist entered the room. "Right this way."

Still looking at Piper, Alex stood and walked towards the door. She stopped in front of the still seated blonde, dragging her finger across the table until it bumped into Piper's hand. "You have my number if anything should change."

* * *

After Alex left the building, Polly shut the door to the conference room and gave her companion a stern look. "What the fuck was that?"

"What do you mean?" Piper popped a chocolate covered espresso bean into her mouth.

"Your expression," the brown haired woman began. "You were amused by her!"

"I was _mildly_ amused, yes." Piper shrugged. "I mean, who confesses in an interview that she was part of a drug ring?"

The other woman folded her arms. "I know that look, Piper."

She swallowed the chocolate and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, trying to hide a smirk from her best friend. "What look?"

"The one that says you're attracted to that lunatic!"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, come on!"

Polly tilted her head, arms still crossed, and allowed Piper to continue.

"The lack of sales experience and the drug thing aside…And despite the fact that she was soaked from head to toe," Piper offered with another shrug. "I found Alex to be…She's…" The blonde scratched her head, trying to sensor her words. " _Fuck_ , she's hot," she said anyway.

"Ugh!" Polly threw her head back. "I knew it!"

"What? I'll never see her again. I could at least appreciate her honesty."

"Give me a break, you were not appreciating _her honesty_." Polly plopped down next to her. "You are in a loving, satisfying relationship with Larry. Why would you even _look_ at someone else?"

"Just because I look doesn't mean I _want_ ," she tried.

A tap on the door forced the women to look that way. "Your next appointment is here."

"Thanks, Becca." Polly raised her eyebrows and looked at her friend. "You'd better not."

During the next interview, Piper couldn't take her mind off Alex. She'd had balls to make such a confession, the blonde thought. And she _was_ hot, even though or— _perhaps_ _especially_ _because—_ she was soaking wet.

"Right, Piper?" Polly asked.

The blonde snapped back to attention. "Oh, yes. That's right." She had absolutely no idea what her friend had just asked and hoped that her response was appropriate.

* * *

When Alex arrived back at her apartment, she kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the sofa. "It smells like a pot shop in here," she mumbled.

"Hey, you're back?" A voice called from the bedroom.

Eyes still shut, Alex replied, "I didn't realize you were here, Sylvie. Don't you have work or something?"

"I called in sick."

Alex turned her head and eyed her on-again, off-again lover. "You're fucking baked."

"So, what? I needed a break." Sylvie sat on the coffee table directly across from Alex with a bong in hand. "Want a hit?"

"Needed a break from what?" The dark haired woman sat up, swatting her arm against the purple haze. "And, no, I don't want a hit."

"Life," Sylvie sighed dramatically.

Alex stood and walked to the kitchen. "Yeah, cause your life is so tough, freeloading off of me and working at a fucking Walgreens to earn money to pay for drugs. I feel _awful_ for you." She reached into the cupboard for a packet of peppermint tea. "Do you even care how my interview went?"

"Why do you want a normal job anyway?" Sylvie responded, taking over the space where Alex had just inhabited on the sofa. "You're rich."

The brunette let out a short laugh. "I blew over half my money from modeling on travel, and the other half from the cartel is almost gone." She filled a kettle with water. "I need a steady income."

"If we have to move to a cheaper place, we will," Sylvia called.

"There's no _we_ , Sylvie." Alex put the kettle on the stove. "You and I are _not_ a couple. You need to get that through your head."

"We just had sex two days ago," Sylvie offered. "But we're not a couple?"

The brunette hung her head. It was true, she'd let Sylvie go down on her Monday morning, and she'd regretted it after her orgasm. Alex ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I want you out of here by the end of August. I'm serious this time, Sylvie."

The other woman sat up, craning her neck to look at Alex. "That's like in two weeks!"

"Consider this your two weeks' notice." She ripped open the tea packet, and then placed the bag into her _I heart NY_ mug.

"Fuck you!" Sylvie stood, walked to the door and slammed it on her way out.

Alex walked back into the living room, looked at the half-full bong and had a choice to make: get high and wallow in the fact that she'd blown the interview at Poppi or flush the bong water down the drain and start looking for other employment opportunities.

She lifted the apparatus and looked at the curves carefully, and as she was about to put her mouth on the blown glass, the thought of having her lips touch where Sylvie's just were made her sick to her stomach. She walked into the bathroom and flushed the contents down the toilet.

* * *

Two weeks passed, and Alex was on edge as she scoured the Internet for job opportunities. She was frustrated with herself for blowing nearly $100,000 on frivolous things over the past few years, and now she was down to her last $10,000 which would cover essentials for another three months maximum.

Although Alex allowed Sylvie to keep some of her clothes and personal belongings at her apartment, she told her ex-lover that she was not welcome to spend the night or hang out during the day unless she was invited to do so. (Alex had no intention of inviting her to do so ever again.)

The brunette finally scored an interview with a startup beauty product line called, Belle. It wasn't her original intention to pursue a job with a company that would be in direct competition with Poppi, but the thought of shoving it in _Smug Polly Harper's_ face was an added bonus. She was less inclined to screw Piper Chapman over (which brought her mind to a different kind of screwing), but Alex needed income and would do almost anything to get a legal job.

* * *

 **Please direct all questions to my new Tumblr account (saintsavory.)**


	2. Chapter 2

Forgot to thank my beta, Nicki. Thank you for your help with this story.

* * *

Larry had asked his girlfriend to move in with him, and Piper had successfully stalled for seven days. She spent at least three nights a week at his apartment anyway, so she didn't really know why making things permanent would be so bad, yet there was something in the back of her mind that kept her from saying yes.

One of the reasons she stayed at his place more than he stayed at hers was because he lived in the same building as Polly and Pete. They all got along well and spent many evenings together playing cards or board games and cooking meals. They went to concerts together, picked up items at the grocery store for each other and watched each other's places when one of the couples went out of town. It was the ideal arrangement, Piper thought, and she liked the fact that Larry and Pete got along so well. It made life easier for her and Polly, who had been best friends since childhood.

She'd promised her boyfriend an answer one week from the time he'd asked her to cohabitate, and Piper found herself awake at five that morning, contemplating her answer.

"Why are you up so early?" Larry rolled over and draped an arm over her torso.

She pulled the sheets higher over her chest. "I can't stop the hamster wheel in my mind."

"Are you thinking about your answer to my question?" His eyes were still shut.

Piper nodded, knowing he couldn't see her.

Larry lifted his head and opened his eyes, blinking rapidly as if waiting for a response. "Well?"

The blonde had no idea what would come out of her mouth, so she blurted out the first word that came to mind. "Yes."

He smiled. "Yeah?"

She nodded again.

"This makes me so happy." Larry wrapped her in a deep embrace. " _You_ make me so happy."

She wanted to tell Larry the same thing—that he made _her_ happy—but she settled for a wide yet close-lipped smile. "I need a month though."

"Why?" He pulled back.

"I need to give my landlord notice," she tried. "And we're swamped at Poppi, so the idea of packing all of my stuff earlier…I just can't."

"I guess you're right," Larry replied, kissing her on the nose. "I can help you pack."

"Ok." She kissed his cheek and hopped out of bed. "I have to pee."

As the blonde sat on the toilet, she released a long breath, hoping she was making the right decision.

* * *

The morning of her interview, Alex woke up early, took the Subway to the Upper East Side, and arrived at the Belle headquarters with 10 minutes to spare. Unlike the day of her last interview, this one went smoothly, and Alex thought the gods were _finally_ on her side. She needed to nail this and was ready to put on the most professional façade possible.

Upon entering the headquarters, Alex noticed a stark contrast between the Poppi office and the Belle space—Poppi was all pastels and vintage furniture, whereas Belle was all dark hues with gold accents and sleek leather chairs in the waiting room. There was an edge to Belle's look, while Poppi was like the playfully, neatly packaged version of Piper Chapman.

She was greeted by a skinny, 20-something effeminate man named Kenyon, who immediately complemented Alex on her new black pumps. She reflected back to the impression she must have made on Piper when she showed up soaking wet with a broken heel.

The interview at Belle progressed far better than Alex had hoped. She felt like her answers were succinct, and she covered up for the missing time on her resume with a small lie about having to care for her sick mom. (Diane, she figured, would tell her to "use whatever ya got, kid" in order to secure the job.)

At the end of the interview, Alex asked two obligatory questions, and then leaned forward and went in for the kill. "Give me one year in this position to increase sales by at least 10%, Gloria. I know what it takes to outsell Poppi, and if I can't come through on that promise by September 20 next year, fire me. I'll walk away, no questions asked."

The CEO smiled at Alex. "Thank you, Ms. Vause. We will definitely be in touch."

The brunette shook her hand, and walked out with her head held high. There was no way, Alex thought, that Gloria wouldn't hire her.

* * *

A mere three days passed before Alex got the offer to work for Belle. She was their first hire in the sales department, and Gloria warned her that she'd be working solo for at least the first six months until the company began seeing a consistent revenue stream. It was all on Alex to make money for the company, and she'd worked with the CEO to establish bonuses based on the dollars hit at the end of each quarter.

After accepting the position, the brunette called her friends to celebrate at The Brickyard Gastropub, a cozy bar she frequented in her neighborhood.

"Well, well, well…Look who's employed." Her friend Nicky greeted her with a fist bump.

Another friend, Lorna, hugged her tightly. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks." She raised her hand for the bartender. "Hey, Owen, can I get a round of Don Julio shots and three Dos Equis?"

"You got it."

The women were three shots in when the blonde at the far end of the bar caught Alex's eye. "Holy shit…"

"What is it?" Lorna asked, glancing in the same direction.

"That's the woman who interviewed me at Poppi." She took the last swig of her second beer. "She's one of the founders."

"She's hot," Nicky commented. "Did you fuck her?"

Lorna slapped Nicky's arm. "That's personal!"

Alex let out a low laugh and stood. "Not yet."

She walked over to the bar and motioned her head for the bartender to come over. "I need you to make a Pina Colada and deliver it to the blonde over there in the maroon sweater."

"It's not summer, Alex," Owen commented, wiping the wooden bar with a damp rag.

"You have a blender, right?"

He gave her a pained expression.

"I know you have rum and pineapple juice. Put that shit in a blender, pour it into a fancy glass, and put a cherry on top."

Owen smiled at her. "You know I can't resist you."

She tilted her head and grinned. "If only I were straight."

"We'd make a great couple," he offered.

"Fucking right, we would."

The blender whirled, and when the concoction was finished, Alex leaned closer to Owen. "Tell her it's from the dark haired woman over here."

"You know her?"

"Sort of." She smirked. "My gratitude will be reflected in your tip." Alex walked back to join her friends, but she kept her eyes trained on Piper as Owen delivered the frozen concoction.

Piper smiled and looked around until they locked eyes. The brunette raised her longneck in a toast, and then sauntered over to the other end of the bar.

"Pina Colada?" Piper looked like she was trying to conceal a smile. "Nice touch."

Alex put her hand on the back of the blonde's chair and didn't hide her own grin. "I figured it was apropos."

She bit her lower lip as she looked up at Alex. "You really fucked up that interview, you know."

"Yeah, that was…" she looked away and tossed her hair off of her forehead with her index finger. "That was _really_ bad."

"The worst." Piper sipped the frozen drink through a straw, keeping her eyes on Alex. "Ew, this isn't a Pina Colada!"

She shrugged. "The bartender didn't have any Coco Lopez."

Piper jutted her chin forward. "What are you drinking?"

"Just finished my second beer." Alex put her hand in her back pocket. "And three shots of tequila."

She watched Piper's eyes trail down her body, which caused her to smirk. Alex worked hard to keep up her toned physique, and it was always nice when others, especially other _women_ , appreciated it.

"I love tequila." The blonde smiled.

"Hey, Vause, we're already late. Let's go." Nicky put her hand on the brunette's arm.

Alex turned to Nicky and Lorna. "I'll meet you outside." She returned her gaze to the blonde. "We're headed to the Wailin' Jennys concert."

"I saw them last night!" Alex noticed the way Piper's blue eyes sparkled.

"Really?"

"Yeah, at The Rock Shop in Park Slope," the blonde commented.

"I don't usually go to Brooklyn, but that place is great," Alex replied. "Maybe we can catch a show some time."

Piper grinned. "Maybe."

"It was nice seeing you when I'm not soaking wet and don't have a broken heel."

"You, too…Alex." There was something about the way the blonde said her name that sent the good kind of shivers down Alex's spine.

"See you around." She squeezed Piper's shoulder, and then proceeded out of the bar.

* * *

It had been nearly a month since they'd interviewed Alex for the sales position, and Piper and Polly were no closer to hiring someone to represent Poppi.

"What was wrong with that redhead, Hannah something?" Polly asked, flipping through a stack of resumes. "Hannah Cerami. She had sales experience and seemed like a real go-getter."

"She was too jittery. I can't see her representing us well." Piper paced in the conference room.

"The Saks pitch is in two days," Polly sighed.

"It's not like we could hire someone tomorrow and train her for the meeting on Thursday." Piper recognized the frustration in her voice. "It's close to midnight, and we're both exhausted. Let's go home and get a good night's sleep. We can pick this up in the morning."

The brunette tucked the resumes back into a folder. "Yeah, you're right."

The women tidied up the Poppi office and headed out the door. It was beginning to feel more and more like autumn every day, and Piper was glad for the change of seasons after a sweltering summer. She buttoned her jacket and threw a scarf around her neck as they walked down Amsterdam Avenue.

"So, did you give Larry an answer about moving in together?" Polly folded her arms tightly against her chest.

"I said yes." The blonde kept her eyes on the ground, finding more fascination in the orange and plum-colored fallen leaves than in the conversation.

Piper could sense her friend's stare. "You don't sound very happy about it."

"It's not that I'm _unhappy_." She looked at her companion. "I just…I don't know."

"I think you _do_ know, but you're afraid of voicing what your heart is telling you."

Piper shoved her hands in her pockets. "You sound like Oprah."

"I was going for After School Special," the brunette quipped, causing Piper to smile.

The friends walked in silence for the next two blocks. Piper pretended to admire the seasonal decorations in the shop windows lining Amsterdam, but her mind was racing. Maybe Polly was right—maybe her heart was telling her something about why she had cold feet with Larry.

"I saw Alex a couple of weeks ago," the blonde blurted out. "Ten days ago, actually."

"Who's Alex?"

Piper whipped her head around as if it was ludicrous that her best friend didn't know who she was referring to. "Alex Vause—the woman who interviewed with us."

The brunette raised her eyebrows. "The drug dealer?"

" _Former_ drug dealer," Piper offered as if that was any better.

"Ok, so…?" Polly shrugged. "Why are you bringing _her_ up right now?"

"I don't know; there was silence between us, so I decided to mention it." She tugged at the knot in her scarf to loosen it. Suddenly, she felt overheated. "Just making conversation."

"I see." Polly cleared her throat. "Has she been on your mind?"

"No, not really," Piper tried to seem detached.

" _Not really_ means that she _has_ been on your mind at least to some degree."

The blonde stopped walking. "It was just something I said, ok? I haven't been thinking about Alex…Not consistently. Just…every once in a while."

Polly, who was two steps ahead, stopped and walked back to where her friend stood. "You need to erase that woman from your brain, Piper. She's no good for you. I mean it."

She looked at her feet and inhaled then exhaled slowly, finally nodding as she lifted her eyes.

Polly looped her arm inside the crook of Piper's elbow and pulled her until they began walking in stride again. "Are you staying at Larry's tonight?"

"Yeah, I guess."

They arrived in front of the brownstone, and Polly keyed them in. She followed the brunette to the second level, where she peeled off to head to Larry's unit. "Good night, see you tomorrow morning."

Polly pulled her in for a hug. "Good night. Get some rest."

* * *

Questions? Ask me on Tumblr (saintsavory).


	3. Chapter 3

Alex had finally finished intense training on the Belle soap and lotion lines and was ready to hit the pavement. She'd spent the better part of 72 hours cold calling stores, writing proposals and scheduling sample showings. She knew that there would be big clients, like department stores, and small clients, like mommy-and-me parties. She'd have to arrange them all and pitch the Belle products to executives and housewives alike.

What fired the brunette up at the end of her first month on the job was the sales meeting that she'd arranged with Saks Fifth Avenue. She went so far as to purchase a new Armani business suit from Saks to further impress the buyers. The blazer was a black, neoprene-panel jacket with a silver zipper, and the matching skirt came just above the knee. When she tried the outfit on for Nicky, the wild haired woman couldn't keep her mouth shut.

The meeting was on a Thursday at 1 p.m., and the Saks receptionist told Alex that there was another potential vendor scheduled to present an hour later. When the dark haired woman enquired about the other vendor, the receptionist leaned forward and said, "I'm not supposed to divulge that kind of information, but it's a company called, Poppi."

Alex could feel the blood rush out of her face.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine." She blinked several times, and then smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine, thank you."

She knew this was bound to happen and hoped that it was Polly and not _Piper_ who would be presenting to the buyers at Saks. Nevertheless, Alex went into the meeting confidently, presented their Christmas line of soaps and lotions to the three executives in the room, and steeled herself for who she'd find in the lobby.

She opened the frosted glass door, and seated on the sofa ten feet away was Piper Chapman.

Alex took a deep breath as she watched the blonde flip through papers in a folder, head still bowed. She had on a citron green, cuffed three-quarter sleeves jacket with a white shirt and black pants. Her hair was wavy, and Alex surmised that she'd recently applied a fresh coat of lip gloss. She wondered if Piper's mouth tasted like cherries. There was something refreshingly feminine about Piper.

"I'd say that this is a surprise, but I suppose it's not." Alex braced herself for the revelation she was about to make.

The blonde's head shot up. "Alex? What are you doing here?"

"Pitching our new line of Christmas soaps and lotions." She held up her embroidered Belle bag. "Which, I'm assuming, is why you're here, too."

"We are," Polly said tersely.

Alex hadn't even noticed the other woman sitting in a chair next to the blonde.

Piper uncrossed her legs. "I don't understand."

"I work for Belle." She brushed a long strand of black hair off her forehead. "I didn't get the job at Poppi, obviously, but Gloria Mendoza hired me."

She stood. "You…you were a _drug dealer_. I don't understand."

Polly shook her head. "Just leave."

"Technically, I didn't _deal_ drugs." She ignored Polly's command and took a step closer, grabbing Piper's sleeve lightly between her index and middle fingers. "It's complicated. Let me take you to a late lunch, and I'll explain."

"No." Piper shook her head and stepped back as if she was too close to a flame. "You work for our competition," she said with acrimony. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

The door opened, and the receptionist called for Ms. Harper and Ms. Chapman.

The blonde raised her eyebrows. "Did you already have this job when we ran into each other at the bar?"

"Piper, let it go." Polly tried, tugging her friend by the elbow.

"You go." Piper yanked her arm away. "I need to hear her answer."

Alex clenched her jaw, dreading the honest response that she owed the woman across from her. "I'd just accepted the offer that day."

"I see." The blonde stared into Alex's eyes before finally looking away and joining her companion by the frosted door. "I hope Gloria fires your ass."

Alex let out a harsh huff and lowered her head.

 _Fuck me_.

* * *

Alex found out the following Tuesday that Belle had won the Christmas account at Saks and was overjoyed at her first big win. For a fleeting moment she felt bad that she'd 'stolen' the account from Piper, err _Poppi_ , but it wasn't personal; it was business, and Alex had a lot to prove to her new boss as well as to herself.

Gloria, Kenyon and Margeaux, the French chemist, took Alex out to celebrate at an Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side. Although she'd only been working at Belle for a short time, she already felt like part of their small, eclectic family.

Gloria raised her glass. "Here's to our first major account."

"With many more to come," Kenyon added.

The foursome tapped glasses and sipped the Nebbiolo.

Alex had been working 12 to 14 hour days and hadn't had time to think about much other than what she wanted to eat when her stomach growled. However, when she crawled into bed each night, Piper crossed her mind. She felt guilty for not telling the blonde about the job offer at the bar that evening, but she couldn't reverse history. Alex admitted to herself that she found Piper _captivating_. She liked that the blonde's facial expressions completely gave her thoughts away. It didn't hurt that she had a ballerina body and a smile that could light up a small town. It saddened her to think she'd only been on the receiving end of Piper's smile once.

"Girl, I dumped him," she heard Kenyon say with the flick of a wrist. "He refused to manscape, and I don't like hair anywhere but on the head."

Gloria and Margeaux laughed out loud, and Alex was sorry to have missed the first part of the gay man's story.

The server took their dinner order, and when he walked away, Alex had a clear view of the hostess stand. She had to blink several times when she saw a blonde haired woman who resembled Piper. She mouthed her name, and when the woman turned around, it was clear as day that it was, in fact, Piper Chapman.

"Fuck," she said under her breath.

"What's wrong?" Gloria asked. "Oh, we're out of wine." She turned both ways until she got the server's attention and requested another bottle.

Alex figured it was better if her co-workers didn't know why she'd sworn. She drained her glass, and then dabbed a napkin on the corner of her mouth before looking back towards the entrance.

Piper was wearing a fitted Navy dress with long cap sleeves that had cream-colored lace stitched to the sides. It accentuated her curves perfectly and was short enough to reveal her toned thighs. Just before the dark haired woman had time to look away, Piper caught her eye.

Alex's lips turned upwards, but Piper grimaced before quickly looking away. She whispered something to the man next to her—some douchey looking Jew boy. The hostess opened her arm as if asking the couple to follow her to their table, and Piper scowled at Alex once again.

"Would you like a new glass?" The server startled her.

"Oh, no, thank you. This one is fine."

He poured the red liquid into her glass, and Alex wasted no time lifting it to her mouth. She chanced another glance at Piper, who she noticed wasn't seated, but the man with her was. It appeared that she was telling him something, and then leaned down to kiss him on the forehead. Alex followed the blonde with her eyes until she disappeared around a corner at the far end of the restaurant.

"Excuse me, I need to use the ladies room." Alex stood and left without even pushing her chair back towards the table.

She traced the path that Piper had just taken and found herself standing outside of the women's restroom. One lady exited, and Alex took that moment to enter while the swinging door was still ajar.

Piper stood with her hands clenching the marble on either side of the sink, eyes closed and head bent.

The brunette walked slowly towards the vanity area, watching Piper through the gold-trimmed mirror.

Piper opened her eyes and saw Alex's reflection. " _Don't_ ," the warning came out heavy and firm.

"Don't what? Use the bathroom?" She half-laughed.

Piper stood more fully, still looking at Alex through the mirror. "You're not here to use the bathroom."

The brunette thought about lying for a half-second but decided against it. "You're right."

She scowled at the other woman. "How could you do that?"

"Do what?" Alex tossed her hair over her shoulders with the shake of her head.

"Take a job with our competitor?"

"We're not _friends_ , Piper." Alex folded her arms. "Hell, we barely know each other. It's not like I betrayed you or something."

Alex regretted her words immediately; that's not what she'd wanted to say. She'd set out to find Piper to apologize—to tell her that she just needed a job and happened to take the first one offered to her.

The blonde finally spun around. "Then what was that whole thing at the bar?"

She shifted her weight to the other leg. "What 'whole thing' at the bar?"

"You buying me a Pina Colada, telling me that we should go to a concert some time."

Alex shrugged. "I fucked up the interview and wanted to make it up to you."

Piper shook her head. "You don't 'make up' an interview, and you don't apologize to someone you 'barely know'."

She had to look away, not only because the blonde had just busted her, but also because she was distracted by the definition of Piper's upper arms.

There had to be a way to make this conversation right. Before Alex was able to provide a comeback, her companion continued, "We'd been courting the buyers at Saks for _months_." Piper took a step forward. "And then you swoop in and steal the account from right under our noses."

Alex shrugged. "You need to learn how to close a deal."

"Is that right?" Piper narrowed her eyes at the taller woman. "And I suppose _you're_ the master at that?"

Alex took a step forward, grabbed Piper by the back of the head, yanking her closer until their lips met.

She heard noises of protest coming from the blonde, but the hold she had on Piper's head made it impossible for her to escape. Alex concentrated fully on the other woman's lips, trying to detect if they were open or closed, which would give her an indication if there was at least some part of Piper that wanted to be kissed. She was pleasantly surprised that the blonde's lips were parted enough for Alex to sneak her tongue inside.

That didn't last long.

Piper pulled back and slapped Alex across the face. "How dare you!"

The dark haired woman's hand instinctively covered her reddened cheek. "Don't tell me there wasn't _some_ part of you that enjoyed that."

The blonde shook her head vigorously. "Get out."

"This is a public restroom," she pointed out.

"Fine, _I'll_ leave." Piper grabbed her handbag from the marble countertop. "I don't want to see you _ever_ again."

Alex took a step to her right, effectively blocking the door, and they were mere inches apart again. She swore she could hear the blonde's heart pounding. "You don't mean that."

Their eyes locked, and then Piper's gaze trailed to Alex's lips, then back up to her eyes.

"Goodbye, Alex." With that, the other woman left the bathroom, leaving the brunette in the middle of the room alone.

* * *

Piper stormed out of the restroom and immediately told Larry they needed to leave. He didn't understand why, so she claimed that she'd started her period and needed to go home.

She didn't talk to her boyfriend on the cab ride across the city. It wasn't until they were at Columbus and West 107th when she finally broke the silence. "I'm going to stay at my place tonight."

"Why?"

"I don't feel well, Larry."

"I have a heating pad," he tried. "You always like a heating pad when it's your time of the month."

"Please pull over," she instructed the cabbie, and then turned to her boyfriend. "Not tonight. I need to be alone. Thank you for understanding."

"But it's our anniversary," he pleaded.

The taxi stopped abruptly, and Piper got out. Before shutting the door, she told Larry that she'd call him in the morning. When the car pulled away, she jogged the half-block back to her flat.

Once inside, Piper hurled her purse onto the sofa and felt her pulse quicken. She paced from wall to wall with hands on her hips, aware that her breathing had become erratic. _Breathe_.

 _How dare she kiss me? Who does she think she is? What kind of nerve does a woman have to do that, in a public restroom, no less? Fuck her for thinking I enjoyed it! Fuck her for taking a job with our competitor!_

Piper ran her hands through her hair and left them on the back of her head as she continued to pace around the small living room.

This was ten kinds of fucked up for obvious reasons, but for the life of her, Piper couldn't erase that searing kiss from her mind. Alex's full lips had enveloped her own. The force of the brunette's hand behind her head had kept their mouths fused together for 10 seconds. Alex's mouth tasted liked red wine and caramel. She instinctively licked her lips to see if that combination still existed on her own mouth.

She rooted in her purse for her mobile phone and was about to call Polly, but thought better of it. What could Polly say that would help the situation? She'd tell Piper that she was crazy; that she should've stormed out of that bathroom the minute Alex walked in.

Piper hated admitting to herself that wasn't what she wanted to hear.

Instead, she plugged her phone into the outlet and ambled into her sparse bedroom, collapsing onto her bed. She didn't brush her teeth or wash her face; she fell asleep on top of the comforter and decorative pillows and didn't wake up until morning.


	4. Chapter 4

Alex did everything she could to put that night to rest. In the back of her mind, she knew Piper had enjoyed the kiss if for nothing more than 20 seconds when their lips were locked. _She could feel it in her bones_. Trouble was, how would they get past their current predicament of Alex being in direct competition with Piper?

The brunette dove into work, prepping, planning and executing. She'd scored Saks Fifth Avenue and a couple of Manhattan boutiques, and Barney's was the next target. Alex hadn't crossed paths with Piper, or Polly for that matter, in two weeks, and she was partly grateful and partly saddened.

She had no intention of rubbing her success in Piper's face. She was just trying to make her boss proud and make a lucrative living in the process. There was nothing wrong with ambition. Her mother had taught her to go after what she wanted with guns blazing, and she wasn't about to let her mom down.

A week before Halloween, Alex had a follow up meeting at Barney's. They'd asked Belle to come up with an exclusive scent that they could label "Barney's Christmas," and Alex worked directly with Margeaux the chemist to create the perfect soap and matching lotion. The concoction they devised was a mixture of pine and bonfire, which Alex thought was quite appealing to the senses and could be appreciated by both men and women.

She was on the way out of the Barney's sales office that Friday afternoon when the lights flickered.

"Not sure what that was about," the executive said to Alex as she shook her hand.

"I heard there was lightening in the area, so maybe we're in for a good thunderstorm." She smiled.

"Stay safe out there. We'll be in touch next week."

"Sounds good." Alex stepped inside the elevator. What, rather _who_ , she saw inside made her eyes nearly pop out of her head.

The blonde swallowed hard. "Alex."

The brunette pushed her glasses higher on her nose. "It's probably best if you don't ask what I'm doing here."

"I'll be damned if you get the Barney's account." Piper's voice was thick; it almost didn't sound like her.

Alex looked at the other woman with a small smile. "May the best company win."

The blonde crossed her arms and watched the numbers tick down in the elevator. "Damn, I was supposed to get off on that floor."

Alex cracked her neck. "Hope you're not late."

Piper gave her a death glare. She punched the button for the fifth floor again. The elevator stopped, but the numbers didn't light up. She pushed the button a second time, but nothing happened. "What's going on?"

The dark haired woman pressed the 'Open Door' button, but still nothing happened, so she tried hitting the lobby button. "Hmm."

Piper's eyebrows knitted. "Are we stuck?"

"I don't know." She tried prying the doors open.

"Alex!" The blonde tugged her arm. "What if we're between floors? Don't do that."

"We have to get out of here somehow!" She tried opening the doors again.

"Please, stop. You're scaring me," Piper pleaded.

Alex turned around to see a frightened expression on her companion's face. She pulled the red phone off the hook and waited for it to connect. "Yeah, hi. We're stuck in the Barney's elevator somewhere between the first and fifth floors."

The operator asked which elevator bank they were in.

"I don't know. I was coming from the sales office."

"Ok, we'll send someone right over."

"What did they say?" the blonde questioned.

She hung up the phone. "They're sending someone over."

The women remained silent for five minutes, both avoiding eye contact and keeping to 'their side' of the elevator like two boxers in a ring.

"Hello, anybody in there?" A man's voice called from above.

"Yes!" Piper was the first to reply. "We're stuck."

"Ok. I'm going to go check the box upstairs. Hang in there."

"We might be in here a while," the brunette offered. "Wanna play a game?"

Piper looked at Alex like she had three heads. " _No_ , I don't want to play a game with you."

"Twenty questions—you can't ask the same thing as the person before you," the dark haired woman replied despite Piper's protest. "And we'll keep everything above the belt."

"I told you, I'm not interested." She removed her suede jacket, hanging it over the handrail.

Alex noticed the green blouse that Piper was wearing almost revealed her cleavage. She wished the blonde would undo just one more button.

"Who's your favorite band?" Alex tried.

After a minute, Piper responded. "Pearl Jam."

The brunette grinned. "Was that so hard?"

Piper glared at her as if anything she'd say would be a nuisance.

"Want me to go again?"

Silence filled the air, and Alex was about to give up and play Candy Crush when she heard the blonde.

"Who's your favorite cartoon bad guy?" Piper whispered, looking away.

"Hmm…I'd have to say Gargamel. He was pretty gnarly." The brunette adjusted her glasses. "Although he _did_ create Smurfette, who was a total hottie."

The blonde let out a short laugh, and Alex could tell she hadn't wanted to find the game amusing.

"Red or white wine?" Alex asked, hoping the momentum was strong enough to keep her companion talking.

"Red when the weather is cool, white when it's warm," Piper replied, this time not as quietly. "What was your favorite Halloween costume when you were a child?"

"That's a tough one." Alex sat on the floor with her feet on the ground and hands on her knees. "I'd have to go with Gene Simmons."

"From KISS?" Piper creased her forehead. "How old were you?"

"Young," she offered with raised brows. "I grew up with very little money, and we didn't have disposable income to buy costumes, so my mom painted my face, spiked my hair and dressed me in all black. Other kids were scared of me. I remember that." She glanced at Piper. "I bet you were always a princess for Halloween."

"Why would you say that?"

"You've got that whole Disney thing going on—blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin," Alex said, eyeing her up and down, paying particular attention to her backside. The skirt Piper had on was perfectly fitted, and the way she was standing accentuated the curve of her ass.

She crossed her arms defensively. "I was a princess once, but I liked to dress in animal costumes."

"Animals?" Alex laughed.

"You know, a spider one year, Snoopy the next. I think I might've been Scooby Doo once…or was that my brother?" Piper sat across from the brunette.

She smirked. "I bet you were cute."

The blonde didn't respond. She hiked her skirt up a bit until she was able to sit Indian style.

"You're not playing the game right, though," Alex continued. "One question per person—no follow up." Although she voiced the rules of the game, the dark haired woman loved the way their conversation flowed. If she allowed the Halloween costume theme to continue, they probably could've discussed it until they were rescued. "It's my turn…Who's your favorite American author?"

Piper paused with a finger to her lips. "I adore Edith Wharton, but I'd have to say Garrison Keillor if we're talking about contemporary writers. I love _A Prairie Home Companion_."

The blonde's answer to this question sent Alex's heart soaring. Her mom listened to Garrison Keillor on NPR when she was growing up; they even went to one of his shows together a year before she passed away. Alex didn't respond to Piper's answer; she just smiled.

"I heard he's retiring after this year," the blonde offered.

"He said that back in 2011," Alex responded.

"Yeah, but I think this really is it for him. I've always wanted to go to one of his performances."

She didn't offer that she had the great fortune of going to one, but she vowed to look up Keillor's travel schedule as soon as she had the opportunity.

"Hello? You ladies ok down there?" a voice called from above.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Piper stood.

"We've identified the issue, and there's nothing to worry about. It might get a little warm in there, but we should have this thing back in order within the next 40 minutes to an hour."

"An hour?" The blonde put a hand on her forehead. "Can you try to speed things up?"

"We're doing the best we can."

"I have to call Greer." She fished for her phone in her bag.

Alex rolled her sleeves up and watched the other woman make the call.

"Hi Greer, I'm not sure if you heard about the stuck elevator in the store, but I'm in it," she said.

The brunette couldn't hear the response, but Piper continued the call, rescheduling their meeting. Alex wanted to keep work out of their conversation as much as possible, so she didn't ask Piper about details of the call.

The blonde fanned herself with her hand. "It's warm in here."

Alex reached into her Belle bag. "Have some water."

She took the bottle of Evian and unscrewed the top. "Thanks."

"Where were we?" the brunette asked. "I think it's your turn."

Piper's eyes met Alex's as she sat back down. "This doesn't change anything, you know."

"That wasn't my intention." She reached for the Evian, which Piper slid across the floor. "I'm just trying to pass the time, kid."

The blonde toyed with a loose thread on her skirt, and Alex wondered if their conversation was officially over. She looked to the side and took a sip of water.

"If you could relive any moment in your life, what would it be?"

Alex's ears perked up. She was shocked that Piper had chosen to continue their little game. The blonde wasn't a fool—she lobbed that question out there for a reason, and Alex took the bait. "The interview with you."

Piper's head was lowered, but her eyes were focused on Alex.

"If I would've nailed that interview, we'd be working together instead of on opposite sides." It was the God's honest truth, and she hoped the blonde would believe her.

"Maybe."

They sat in silence once again. Piper removed her shoes, rolled up her sleeves and undid the top button on her blouse. Alex tried not to stare, but she couldn't help it. The other woman was flat chested to be sure, but she had beautiful skin.

"Do you want to talk about the kiss?" The dark haired woman broke her original rule of keeping things above the belt.

"That was uncalled for."

 _Not the worst answer in the world_ , Alex thought. "I was just trying to prove a point about closing a deal."

"I have to give it to you," the blonde stated. "You have major balls."

"Gross, I hate balls," she replied playfully, extending her long legs and crossing them at the ankles.

Piper let out a tiny snort.

"I'm sorry," she said in a sincere tone. "I shouldn't have kissed you—not like that."

The other woman extended her legs, and her big toe touched Alex's hip before she quickly moved it. "No, you shouldn't have."

"I like you, Piper." Alex tilted her head. "I think you're fascinating."

"I might've liked you if you hadn't screwed me over," she said in a gentler tone than Alex expected.

The dark haired woman swung her foot, hitting Piper's upper thigh with her pointy shoe several times and smiled sweetly at her. She was rewarded with Piper swinging her foot and doing the same, but unlike her own smile, the blonde's lips were neutral. She knew that Piper was still angry with her—she had every right to be—but she probably liked Alex against her better judgement.

It was in that moment when Alex thought she could fall in love with this woman.

The elevator jolted, and both women braced themselves with hands on the ground.

"We've got this old girl working again," the man's voice called.

The buttons lit up, and they reached the first floor.

Alex stood first, and then held a hand out to help Piper. The blonde took it and stood, but let it go immediately. She brushed the back of her skirt and grabbed her jacket from the handrail.

"If I had to be stuck in an elevator, I'm glad it was with you," Alex admitted, pulling her bag onto her shoulder.

Piper didn't reply, leaving the brunette wondering where her mind was.

The elevator doors opened, the women made eye contact, and then Piper disappeared out of Barney's and onto the sidewalks of New York.


	5. Chapter 5

As she walked briskly down the busy street, Piper pulled her phone out of her purse to call Polly.

"Hey, I had to reschedule the meeting," she began. "I was stuck in a fucking elevator for the past hour."

"Why didn't you call me?" She sounded pissed.

"What could you have done? You're at the airport."

Polly was going to London with her boyfriend to meet his family for the first time. Piper didn't want her best friend to cancel the trip to make the meeting at Barney's, so she'd chosen not to bother her. The fact that she didn't want to be interrupted from her conversation with Alex had nothing at all to do with the reason she didn't call her business partner from the elevator.

 _Nothing at all._

Her friend exhaled loudly. "Were you able to reschedule?"

"Yes, tomorrow at noon. It'll be fine."

"Ok. We're boarding now, so I have to go. Good luck tomorrow."

"Thanks." Piper hung up and jogged down the Subway steps to head back to the Poppi office.

She figured if she kept busy, she wouldn't think about the past hour and how much she thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Alex. She also wouldn't think about their kiss. Or the way the brunette's foot tapped her thigh. Or the way her smile lit up the small space. Or the way her blouse hugged her breasts.

No, she wouldn't think about those things.

Piper arrived at the office and poured over their Barney's presentation again. It was perfect, and she was convinced that Poppi would win the Barney's account—at least for the Christmas line. When she was done with the PowerPoint, Piper invited Becca, the receptionist, to chime in on some of the resumes that they'd received that week. By the time 5 o'clock rolled around, she let Becca leave and began sending e-mails to the top three sales candidates.

She opened a browser and stared at the cursor for a moment before typing, _Alex Vause,_ into the search field. Part of her felt sketchy for researching the other woman, but the curious part of her demanded to know more. She scrolled down to see images of the dark haired woman and clicked on a few. They were all from her modeling days in Europe, and one was a magazine shoot from Milan.

Any person could see that Alex was gorgeous—Piper wasn't alone in that—but there was something missing in her eyes in those photographs. She didn't know the other woman well enough to claim that she looked sad, but there definitely wasn't the spark that Piper saw in Alex's eyes today.

She read the magazine article, which was really only a paragraph, and learned that Alex's mom was her hero and that she was the single person who raised a young Alex Vause. The article also noted that the brunette headed straight to Italy after high school and had no intention of pursuing a college degree. Piper wondered if that was still true.

Her phone buzzed, and when Piper looked at the time, she realized she'd been researching Alex for the past two hours.

"Hi, Larry," she greeted.

"Hey, where are you?"

"I'm still at work." She deleted the browsing history as if she was doing something wrong.

"Piper, we have dinner reservations at 7," Larry complained.

 _Shit_. She'd forgotten all about it. They were supposed to have dinner to celebrate Larry's father's 70th birthday.

"I'm sorry. I'm walking out now." She shut her laptop and stood. "I'll be there in 15 minutes."

"Ok, see you soon." Larry sounded deflated, and she hated that she made him feel that way.

He'd be happy very soon though, as the end of the month was only two days away, and she planned to move in with him the first week of November.

* * *

Alex's friends had convinced her to go out on Halloween night despite her protests. She'd been working way too much and had been looking forward to a quiet evening at home, watching a scary movie or two.

She introduced Nicky and Lorna to Kenyon, and the three of them got along exceedingly well.

"I'm not usually into 'man scent' but you smell fucking awesome," Nicky commented to Kenyon.

"Thanks, doll." Kenyon smelled his wrist. "Our chemist, Margeaux, was experimenting with macadamia oil and eucalyptus and gave me a little sample. I'm telling you, I rub it on my hands and arms in the morning, and it keeps me moisturized and smelling fresh all day."

"You're a walking billboard, Kenyon," Alex chuckled.

He insisted that they go to a gay bar down the street, but Alex just wasn't in the mood for flirting and dancing.

"You guys go ahead. I'm going home and crawling into bed," she said, looking at her watch. It was just before 10 p.m.

Nicky shoved her friend. "You're a pussy, Vause."

"Leave her alone, Nichols," Lorna said. "Alex, you go on home and get some rest. You look really tired."

"You guys aren't deserting me, are you?" Kenyon looked at Lorna and Nicky. "First round's on me."

"We're in," Nicky replied. "See you later, pussy."

Alex shook her head and smiled. "Happy Halloween."

She took the Subway back to her loft, closing her eyes as the lull of the train made her even sleepier. She wondered what Piper was doing that night. She was probably at some big, Yuppie Halloween bash on the Upper West Side.

Alex got off the Subway and walked the two blocks to her apartment. She opened her laptop and waited for it to power up as she pulled a pumpkin beer out of the fridge.

She looked up the contact information she'd kept from Poppi and was pleasantly surprised when she saw that she had Piper's cell phone number. _Fuck it_ , she thought. The brunette grabbed her phone and typed the first thing that came to mind: "Are you dressed as Scooby Doo tonight?"

It was a harmless text—even if Piper didn't reply, she didn't feel guilty about sending it. Alex tilted her beer back and opened the Belle folder on her computer to keep busy as she waited (and hoped) for a reply.

She didn't have to wait long. "Checked with my mom. My brother was Scooby Doo. I was Daphne."

"Daphne was pretty slutty," she typed with a smile.

Piper texted back. "So was I."

 _Well, well, well_. Was Piper _flirting_ with her?

"What are you doing tonight?" She typed with a wide grin plastered on her face.

"At a costume party in Hell's Kitchen."

Alex took a swig of beer. "Sounds like fun."

"It's not," the blonde typed.

She'd drank three Captain Morgan on the rocks at the club earlier that evening, and with this her fourth alcoholic beverage, Alex felt more brazen than usual. "I live in Hell's Kitchen – 10th & W 45th. About to watch _It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown_ ," she typed. Alex debated whether to end the text with that or to take a risk. Her thumbs settled on the screen. "Come over for some pumpkin beer & popcorn."

Her heart beat a little faster as she awaited a reply.

"And what do you suggest I tell my boyfriend?"

 _Boyfriend_? Huh. So that douche that she'd seen Piper with at the restaurant _was_ her boyfriend.

"That you're not feeling the costume party so you're heading out."

The fact that the blonde hadn't turned her down outright was a step in the right direction. Alex once again waited for a response, but five minutes went by with nothing. She decided to open another beer, her last pumpkin ale, and stuck a bag of Orville Redenbacher in the microwave. Even if Piper didn't come over, she still intended on doing exactly what she'd planned.

She opened her e-mail while the popcorn cooked and decided to write back to a few potential clients. The microwave beeped, but she kept working. Twenty minutes passed when she finally looked up from her computer and remembered that she had popcorn in the microwave and hadn't heard back from Piper.

Alex kicked off her boots before walking into the kitchen. She retrieved a bowl from the cupboard when she heard her intercom buzz. It startled her at first; she wasn't expecting any trick-or-treaters, especially not at quarter to 11.

She walked back into the living room and hit the intercom button. "Who is it?"

"Piper."

Alex jutted her head back. She pressed the green button, unlocking the main door and opened her own front door. The brunette stood in the hallway in her thick orange & black socks and waited to see if Piper could find her unit.

A moment later, the blonde reached the second floor.

Alex smirked at the other woman's outfit—black body-length leotard, a long tail and a cat ear headband. Without the cat parts, she resembled Olivia Newton-John in the final scene of _Grease_. "Still like dressing like animals, I see."

Piper looked down at her costume. "It was easy to put together."

The dark haired woman let her eyes roam over every curve of her body. "It looks good on you." She lifted one eyebrow. " _Very_ good."

She put a hand on her hip. "Are you going to invite me in?"

Alex stepped aside, holding the door open. "How did you know my address?"

The blonde was busy looking around the vast living room. "From your resume."

Alex admired her resourcefulness, and it wasn't lost on her that Piper had kept her address at least somewhat handy. The brunette walked into the kitchen. "I made this popcorn, like, 20 minutes ago. It's cold." She popped a kernel into her mouth. "I'll make a new bag."

"This is a nice place," Piper commented from the tall bookcases on the south wall. She picked up a book and touched the cover.

"You can see why I needed a job." She put another bag in the microwave. "My mortgage is off the charts." Alex immediately regretted bringing up her job and hoped that her comment was lost on the blonde. "Want a beer?"

"Sure." Piper walked towards the kitchen, removing her headband along the way. "Ow, this thing is caught."

"Let me see." The brunette held the headband in one hand while she untangled blonde hair from the cat ears. Piper smelled like candy corn and whiskey—a lethal combination. "You really got this thing tangled, kid."

"Ouch! Don't pull so hard."

"Ok, I think I got it." She took one final whiff of the other woman, and then handed her the headband.

Piper rubbed her head. "Thanks. I want to take off this tail, too."

"Need some help?"

Piper twisted around, trying to reach the long, black tail. "If you want."

Alex stepped behind her and put her hands on the other woman's hips. She ran her palms from just above Piper's ass around to her stomach, relishing in the feel of the tight, slick material under her fingertips. She realized rather quickly that the belt holding the tail snapped in the front, and it would have been very easy for Piper to have unhooked the clasp herself.

Alex took her sweet time unlatching it, and she could feel Piper slightly leaning back into her. She wished they could stay like that a bit longer, but the blonde pulled away as soon as the clasp was undone.

"About that beer..." Piper brushed a hand through her hair, which, if Alex had to guess, was a nervous gesture.

"Right." The brunette blinked a few times before opening the refrigerator. The cool air felt good on her warm face. "Fuck, I'm drinking the last pumpkin ale. We can share."

Piper reached for the bottle that Alex had left on the counter and took a long sip, eyes not leaving her companion's.

The brunette smirked at the fact that Piper didn't hesitate to share the beer, and she couldn't wait to wrap her mouth around the opening of the bottle after Piper had taken a sip.

"How'd you get out of the party?"

Piper handed her the longneck. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Fair enough." Alex put her lips on the bottle opening, hoping to taste a trace of Piper. The taste of candy corn was barely detectable, but it was delicious. She wanted to stick her tongue in the blonde's mouth to taste more, but figured that wouldn't be a smart move at this juncture.

"I want to watch _The Great Pumpkin_ ," Piper requested, walking back into the living room. "You know the line that Charlie Brown says when he's trick-or-treating, 'I got a rock?'" She called over her shoulder. "Charles Schulz said that after the program first aired, boxes of candy came in from all over the world 'just for Charlie Brown'." The blonde plopped onto the sofa. "Isn't that cute?"

It was the first moment when the dark haired woman realized that her companion was a little tipsy.

"It _is_ cute." She grinned at the other woman's slight slur. "It's on the DVR, which you can probably operate better than I can."

Alex grabbed the popcorn, tucked the longneck under her arm, and joined Piper on the sofa. She handed the bowl to the blonde, and then pulled a blanket from the back of the sofa. "Are you cold?"

"A little." Piper took off her three inch heels, and then adjusted the blanket over her legs. Once she was settled, she pulled the other half of the blanket open for Alex to join her.

The two sat on the sofa, impossibly close without touching, as Piper figured out how to operate the television.

Alex shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "It's the green button, then the gray one."

The blonde put a few kernels into her mouth, and then reached for the beer. Alex handed it to her, and their fingers touched. Piper pulled back. "Sorry."

"Why?" Alex chuckled.

She didn't respond. Instead, she found the movie and hit _play_.

They watched Linus, Sally and Snoopy in silence, save for the crunch of popcorn and the fizz of beer as they passed it back and forth. About halfway through the movie, Piper spoke with her eyes still trained on the TV. "Today's the 31st."

"Yeah." She grinned. "That's usually the date of Halloween."

Piper took the last swig of beer. "I'm moving in with my boyfriend this week."

Alex stopped chewing. The blonde was telling her this for a reason, and she knew she needed to tread lightly. "Huh…ok," she said.

There was a long pause before Piper spoke again, turning to face her companion. "Do you have any whiskey?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I have Bourbon."

Piper turned back to the screen. "Even better."

Alex stood, making sure the blanket was still covering the blonde. "Rocks or neat?"

"Rocks." She pressed _pause_ on the remote.

Alex put three ice cubes into a short glass and poured the equivalent of about two shots of Bourbon into it. She walked back into the living room and resumed her spot on the sofa. "Hope you like Maker's Mark."

"Thank you." Piper looked at her. "You didn't want any?"

She hoisted her legs onto the coffee table, mirroring Piper's, making sure that the blanket reached their socked feet. "I liked sharing a drink with you."

Piper's smile was almost undetectable as she continued to gaze at Alex. She took a sip of Bourbon, and then swallowed hard. "I don't want to move in with him," she confessed.

This took the brunette by surprise. She considered her response while taking a small sip of the amber liquid. "Then don't."

The blonde finally broke her gaze and looked at her lap. "It's not that simple."

"Are you pregnant?" _Please say no_.

"God, no!"

"Are you sick?"

"No."

Alex shrugged. "Then it _is_ that simple. I mean, the conversation will be tough, but once it's over, you'd feel a lot better."

"That's the thing, Alex," she began. "If I don't move in with him, it's _over_ —as in, we're done."

She rested the glass on her thigh. "Is that not what you want?"

Piper tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "It's complicated."

Just when Alex thought her companion would leave it at that, she spoke again. "Larry knew Polly's boyfriend, Pete, before I even knew him. They live in the same building, and Polly and Pete live together. We do things as couples all the time, and I love that." She removed the glass from Alex's thigh and took a sip. "Larry is kind; he's funny, he's smart. There's a lot to like about him."

She shrugged. "Then I don't see what the problem is."

Piper looked into the glass as if it was a crystal ball that contained all the answers. "I don't know if I love him _in that way_ anymore."

 _Wow_ , she thought. Late night confessions with Piper Chapman. "You're the only one who can answer that."

Piper looked at her with despondent eyes. " _You're_ not making it any easier."

Alex instinctively reached out to touch her cheek. Piper leaned into the touch and closed her eyes. This wasn't the moment for a kiss, but it was extremely difficult for the dark haired woman to not lean over and plant an affectionate kiss on Piper's lips.

The blonde opened her eyes as Alex continued to stroke her thumb over the soft skin and smiled faintly at her. They sat like that for a minute, before Piper pulled back and took a deep breath. "Can we watch the rest of the movie?"

"Yeah." She grabbed the remote control, hitting the play button.

Alex thought that her companion might have snuggled into her side, and for a second, she considered throwing her arm around the blonde's shoulders. Instead, Piper leaned her back against the sofa and they reverted back to their original positions of legs extended on the coffee table, each crossed at the ankles.

Piper pulled the blanket up higher, while Alex took a sip of Maker's. She handed the glass to the sleepy blonde and watched her take a sip.

It was the part of the movie when Sally declares her disdain for Linus and refers to him as a "blockhead" three times when it's revealed that The Great Pumpkin is actually Snoopy.

"Sally went _off_ on him. _Damn_ ," Alex commented around a laugh.

Piper snorted, which left a small smile on her face. Any sort of smile was refreshing, Alex thought.

"I'm going to reintroduce that insult into American culture," the brunette said. "If you move in with Larry, you're a _blockhead_."

Piper's smile grew wider. Alex took that opportunity to knock her feet against her companion's. The blonde retaliated with her own feet, and the women grinned at each other. They left their feet in that position—big toes touching through socked feet. It had been a long time since Alex had felt this sort of connection with anyone, and she hated to remind herself that they were still competitors.

The blonde yawned. "I'm really tired."

"Take my bed. I'll sleep out here." She couldn't believe those words came out of her mouth—any other time Alex was in a similar situation, she would have closed the deal, and they'd be on their third round of orgasms. For some reason, the dark haired woman didn't pursue her normal course of action, but she didn't examine those reasons in that moment.

Piper's head was still resting on the back of the sofa, but she turned to face her companion. "I couldn't do that to you."

"Don't make me drag you in there." She tried for a light tone, hoping to prove this wasn't some sort of game to get Piper into her bed.

"Ok, ok." Piper gave in. "Thank you."

Alex stood and stretched, and then pulled Piper up by the hand.

"Can I borrow pajamas or a t-shirt or something?" She looked down at the black leotard. "I don't think this would be comfortable to sleep in."

"Yeah." Alex walked ahead, turning on the bedside lamp before rustling through her dresser drawer. She pulled out a purple negligee. "How about this?" she asked jokingly.

Piper grinned. "I was thinking of something a little cozier."

She handed a pair of Navy blue flannel pajamas to the sleepy woman. "These should work."

"Thanks. Can I use your bathroom?"

"Of course." She pointed to the restroom. "Take your time."

The brunette returned to the living room to clean up the beer bottles that she'd left strewn around and took the last swig of Bourbon. She brought the now empty bowl of popcorn to the kitchen with the longnecks tucked under her arm. She rinsed the bowl, sticking it in the dishwasher, and then threw out the previously uneaten, cold popcorn. When she returned to the living room, Piper was standing near the sofa, turning off the television.

"Those are a little big on you," she said around a chuckle.

The blonde regarded the sleeves that were a few inches too long. "They'll do."

"Need anything before you go to bed?"

"No, thanks." She looked up at Alex. "Thank you for letting me stay here."

"Anytime," she whispered.

Piper turned around and headed back into the bedroom, and the dark haired woman was right behind her.

She crawled into Alex's queen bed and let out a content sigh as she pulled the covers over her body. "Nice sheets."

"I bought them in Turkey a million years ago." She tucked the other woman in. "Let me know if you need anything."

Piper surprised Alex by grabbing her hand. "Thank you." She squeezed it, and then let go.

"Good night, Piper."

"Night."

* * *

I wrote this chapter two days before Halloween. Hope you liked it. Thanks for the reviews so far. Don't forget, if you have questions, please ask them on my tumblr account, and I'll see if I know how to reply to them.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Piper awoke without the annoyance of an alarm clock, slowly blinking her eyes as the sunlight poured in through a crack in the curtains. She knew she wasn't in her own bed, but for some reason, it didn't frighten her. She rolled onto her back, rubbed her eyes and relished in the feeling of a good night's sleep. She blinked a few times, and then turned her head to her right. Suddenly, it came to her: she'd slept at Alex's apartment.

 _She was in Alex's bed._

Instead of freaking out, a slow smile crawled across her face. She even felt a laugh spool deep within her. Piper rubbed her hand on the soft white and red sheets, and then turned on her side again. She rolled her neck until her nose was buried in the pillow, and another smile surfaced. The pillow smelled like Alex. She should've been able to place the scents, given that she was the co-owner of a soap company, but all she could pick out was sugar and grapefruit; the rest was pure Alex.

Piper reflected on the previous night—the shared beer and Bourbon, the Charlie Brown movie, the blanket covering her legs, and Alex right next to her. It was then when she remembered her confession that she didn't want to move in with Larry. Worry crept into her mind—maybe she'd said too much; put too much trust in a woman who was her outright business rival.

"Hey, sleepy head." Alex startled her, and it wasn't until then when she felt like she'd invaded the other woman's space.

"Hi." She pulled the covers higher. "What time is it?"

"9:30." The brunette opened her dresser drawer. "How'd you sleep?"

"Well. _Really_ well." In fact, the blonde didn't remember waking up even once throughout the night.

"Good." Alex pulled out some clothes, dropping a pile on the far end of the bed. "It's a gorgeous morning. I'm going to a yoga class in Central Park at 10. Come with me."

Piper wasn't sure why she was surprised that Alex practiced yoga, but she knew that the brunette did _something_ to stay fit. "I should probably..." Piper trailed off, thinking that she should go home and explain her whereabouts to Larry, but she decided to ignore that niggling in her brain. "I could use some sun salutations right about now." She stretched. "Wait, I don't have any clothes."

The brunette jutted her chin towards the pile she'd just put on the bed. "Those are for you." Alex took her own workout attire into the bathroom, but didn't shut the door. "I pegged you as a yoga girl."

Piper couldn't tear her eyes away from her companion, who proceeded to strip down to nothing in the bathroom. Her back was turned, so she couldn't see Alex's breasts, but she saw her bare ass and swallowed hard as the dark haired woman stepped into heather gray yoga pants.

"What do you mean?" Her mouth was suddenly dry.

"You have a yoga body," Alex offered casually as she slipped on a magenta sports bra. "You know—long, slender, muscular…I figured you either do yoga or ballet." She stuck her head out of the bathroom, long sleeved shirt still gathered near her elbows. "Am I right?"

Piper got a full glimpse of the brunette's body: breasts contained by a sports bra and long legs covered with skin-tight yoga pants. She noticed a beauty mark on Alex's belly and swallowed hard, wondering what it would feel like to trace it with her tongue.

"Are you listening?" Alex chuckled as she pulled the shirt over her head.

The blonde looked down as if she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Um, yeah…I practice yoga three times a week; more if I have time."

"I wish I could go that often." The brunette stepped out of the bathroom, and then sat on the edge of the bed to put on her socks. "When the weather's nice, I do yoga in the park. If it's shitty outside, I try to get to a studio on Sundays."

Piper had to move her feet for fear of Alex sitting on them. She was surprised at how comfortable Alex seemed with her in her bed—there was no awkwardness whatsoever. Piper needed to ensure that she hadn't overstepped when she admitted that she didn't want to move in with Larry—a fact that she hadn't voiced to _anyone_ until eight hours ago.

"About last night…"

"Nothing happened, if that's what you're worried about," Alex said before the blonde could finish her sentence.

"No…I mean, I know nothing happened." She turned to fully face her companion. "I told you that I didn't want to move in with Larry."

Still seated at the foot of her bed, Alex slipped on her New Balance shoes. "Yeah?"

"I probably shouldn't have divulged that information." She searched Alex's face for expression, but the dark haired woman's countenance was unchanged—a little grin seemed to just sort of hang out.

"I'm like a vault, kid. Your secret's safe with me." She squeezed the blonde's knee, and then stood. "Get dressed or we'll be late. I don't want you to miss your salutations."

Piper was thankful for Alex's casualness—she could've made a big deal about Larry and the whole moving in thing, but she didn't. The blonde grabbed the clothing at the end of the bed, and padded into the bathroom to change. She slipped on Alex's black Lululemon yoga pants and was pleased with how they fit, and then put on a white tank top, followed by a green, long-sleeved shirt with a hood. There was something very intimate about wearing the other woman's clothing. She sniffed the sleeve, and smiled at the scent of Alex on her own body.

She looked around the small space, taking in the little nuances of Alex. She seemed to have every scent of Belle lotion and soaps displayed on a shelf, but the blonde noticed a bar of Poppi apple harvest soap on a gold dish next to the sink. She picked it up, inhaling the familiar scent.

The soap brought back the painful reminder that they were on opposing teams—Alex was her direct competition, and that made the blonde second guess staying overnight and agreeing to go to yoga with the dark haired woman. What if Alex wanted to probe for business secrets? She seemed like a savvy woman, college degree or not, and she didn't know Alex well enough to trust her intentions.

She used a Noxzema makeup wipe to clean her face, and then dabbed some deodorant under her arms. She put a dot of Colgate toothpaste on her index finger and scrubbed her teeth as best she could before walking into the kitchen. "Why do you have a bar of our soap?"

"What?" Alex chugged a glass of orange juice. "Want some?" She poured half a glass, extending it to the blonde.

She folded her arms. "Why do you have a bar of Poppi soap next to your sink?"

"I bought it when I was doing research on your company before my interview." She put the glass on the counter. "I spent $12 on it, so I figured I'd use it instead of throwing it away."

It was a satisfying explanation. Piper picked up the glass and drank its contents.

"What did you think? That I'd bought the soap to steal your 'special' fall scent?" Alex said through a half-smile. "We don't need your apple harvest fragrance."

"It's a big seller," the blonde offered.

"I'm sure it is." Alex breezed past her companion and headed for the front door. "But it's not as good as Belle's harvest moon."

Piper set the glass in the sink, and then followed Alex out the front door. "What does a _harvest moon_ smell like, exactly?"

"Let's see, it's a little dewy, smoky, earthy with a touch of clean linen." She jogged down the steps.

Piper was hot on her trail as they headed into the bright morning sun.

"Are you cold?" The dark haired woman stopped walking. "I can run back up and get a jacket."

"I'm fine." She walked past Alex until the other woman caught up. Piper was touched at her offer. "That's a bullshit name for a soap."

"Not according to our bottom line." Alex picked up the pace. "We've sold 550 cases since Labor Day, and that number just keeps growing."

Polly did the books, so the blonde couldn't retaliate with Poppi's numbers. "We name our products fragrances that actually have a scent."

Alex full-on laughed.

Piper felt herself grinning so broadly that it felt like a ray of sunshine had descended upon her face. They walked in silence another block, and the blonde inhaled the clean, crisp air.

"So, are you going to talk to him?" Alex broke the quiet.

"Talk to who?" She glanced at her companion.

The brunette blew warm air on her hands. "Larry."

"Oh." She didn't want to think about him. In fact, she hadn't even looked at her mobile phone to see if he was curious about her whereabouts. (She knew the answer to that.) "I don't know."

Alex led them around a corner and walked to the sunny side of the street. "If you don't, Piper, you're going to be in an uncomfortable situation after you move in and start to resent him, because you didn't want to move in the first place."

"Polly's going to kill me," she confessed.

"What does this have to do with Polly?"

"She's our biggest fan." Piper regretted her comment the second it came out. She knew she sounded needy.

Alex stopped and turned towards the blonde. "This is _your_ life, not Polly's. You're facing a big fucking decision, and you have to do what's best for you, not your friend."

She lowered her head. "I know."

With her head still bent, Piper felt a hand touch her head. She looked up and immediately found Alex's hazel eyes. It was almost as if they weren't looking _at_ each other, but _into_ each other. The brunette kept her hand on the side of her head, and Piper covered her wrist with her own hand.

Piper figured that Alex knew exactly what she was communicating without saying a word. For the life of her, the blonde wanted the other woman to lean down and kiss her, but she knew that would open a can of worms that would affect more than just their budding friendship—there were all kinds of implications, not the least of which was her relationship with Larry.

* * *

Alex _really_ tried to concentrate on her breathing and holding yoga poses for maximum benefit, but truth be told, she couldn't stop staring at Piper. The blonde was extremely flexible, and the way she could bend her body in half convinced Alex that she'd be remarkable in bed.

"Was that your stomach growling?" Alex asked as they rolled up their yoga mats.

The blonde placed a hand on her tummy. "You heard that?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "There's this oatmeal bar around the corner. They have six different oats and like 20 different toppings."

"Sounds delicious." Piper tapped her hips and her butt as if feeling for something. "I don't have any money."

"Don't worry about it."

They turned the corner and a few feet away under an awning Alex noticed a young woman selling drugs to a teenage boy.

"Bring back memories?" the blonde asked.

"Ha!" she laughed. "Hardly." Alex picked up their pace and turned the corner towards the restaurant. "If you want to know about my time in the drug business, Piper, _ask_."

"I didn't think an interview was the right time to inquire," the blonde offered with a sideways glance.

Alex opened the restaurant door and a little bell sounded.

They were greeted by a petite woman in her 20s with a pierced eyebrow and pink hair. "Hey, Alex. Haven't seen you in a while."

"Katie…" she tried not to roll her eyes. "Yeah, it's been a while."

"I texted you like five times," the younger woman said. "New girlfriend?"

She could feel Piper's eyes on her. "I'd rather not get into it with you. Just show us to a table."

"Fine." The woman brought them to a window seat for two and threw down the menus. "Be careful what you're getting into with this one," she warned Piper before walking away.

Alex let out a long sigh.

"What was that about?" Piper grinned.

She opened the menu and casually replied, "I made the foolish mistake of fucking her a couple of months ago."

A server approached the table to take their order.

"I'll do the oatmeal bar with coffee, please," she requested. "Piper?"

"Same." The blonde kept her focus on her companion. "You had sex with her?"

Alex looked up and handed the menu to the server. "I was having a bad day, hell, a bad _month_. Sex with Katie was a Band Aid. Trust me, it won't happen again." She pushed her chair back. "Oatmeal?"

If she had to guess, Alex would say that Piper was _amused_ by her, what with the blonde's almost imperceptible grin and slight giggle.

They filled their bowls with steelcut oats and all sorts of toppings from toasted coconut to candied walnuts. Alex observed her companion at the oatmeal display. She looked like a kid in a candy store and had a comment about almost every topping. It tickled her, and Alex was reminded again that Piper had a hard time hiding her emotions.

"I want to hear about your time as a drug dealer," Piper stated when they sat down.

"I technically only sold drugs for three months," she replied around a mouthful of oatmeal. "After four years of modeling in Europe, I'd made enough money to travel around the world. I met some people along the way who were sort of doing the same thing, but they happened to be in the drug industry." She took a sip of coffee. "By the end of my soul searching, year-long adventure, I was running low on cash, so I offered to help them sell dime bags. It was a petty job, but I got to meet some movers and shakers in one cartel in particular." Alex poured a drop of creamer into her coffee. "I hung out with them for a while, and this one guy took an interest in me, so after, like, two months, he gave me more responsibility."

"Were you in the US at this point?"

"No, I didn't come home very often, and I wasn't in one city for more than a couple of weeks," the brunette replied. "But I started handling logistics and distribution when we were in Costa Rica. By that point, I'd long ago stopped selling directly to consumers and just reported to the cartel leaders." She paused for another bite. "I made a shitload of money after my second year, which was when I bought my flat in New York."

"How long ago was that?"

"It'll be three years in December." She popped a walnut into her mouth.

"I've read stories about people involved in drug cartels," Piper stated with worry etched on her face. "They don't get out—they either go to jail or get killed."

"That's mostly accurate." Alex wiped her mouth with a napkin. "I was lucky in some ways, I guess."

The blonde's expression invited her to continue. Alex hadn't shared most of this with anyone, including Sylvie. All of her friends knew she'd been involved in the drug business, but she didn't divulge any more than the basics.

"My mom died in December of that year, and I came back to the US to bury her." That admission stung her eyes like pin pricks to the skin.

"I'm sorry." She reached a hand out to cover Alex's wrist.

"I was a fucking mess," the brunette admitted with a hitch in her voice. "I tried to go back to work, but I screwed up big time on several deals. The leaders of the cartel were furious, but the guy that recruited me initially, Fahri, knew that my head wasn't in the game." She looked away and blinked rapidly to hold the tears in. "They told me that my services were no longer needed, bought me a one-way ticket to New York, and that was the last I saw or heard from them."

Piper's concerned expression was unchanged. "Are you in danger of going to jail?"

"Not jail; prison," she said. "It's not something I consistently worry about. Besides, the statute of limintations is almost up."

"You _are_ lucky." The blonde once again reached out to touch her arm.

This time, Alex covered Piper's hand with her own. "I know." She squeezed the blonde's hand before letting go and took a deep breath. "So that's the story."

Piper sat back. "Wow. Thank you for sharing."

"You're welcome," she replied with sincerity. "Now, tell me something about you."

The women finished their breakfasts as Piper told Alex about her fucked up family and how she grew up with a silver spoon and hated every minute of it. It wasn't something the dark haired woman could relate to, but she pitied her companion for not having a loving mother like she did.

* * *

They walked back to Alex's apartment, occasionally bumping hands. Every time their skin touched, it felt like lightening. It took great restraint on Alex's part not to jump the blonde the second they walked through the door.

Piper walked in before the brunette and immediately searched for her cell phone. "Fuck."

"What's wrong?"

"Larry called twice and texted me five times," she sighed. "I need to call him."

Alex took off her shoes and watched the blonde pace in the bedroom. She couldn't hear the conversation other than Piper explaining that she'd just finished a yoga class. She was once again drawn to the blonde's long legs and _loved_ that she was wearing her clothes.

When she was finished with the phone call, Piper walked briskly into the living room. "I have to go."

"Boyfriend's upset?"

She looked down. "I should've texted him this morning."

"He's not your keeper," the brunette said with a trace of bitterness.

Piper lifted her head and looked her in the eyes. "He was worried about me and had every right to be. I left him alone at the Halloween party last night and didn't call this morning."

She stood and opened her laptop, avoiding Piper's gaze. "Do what you need to do, Piper."

The mood suddenly shifted, and there was palpable tension in the room.

"I will." She found her handbag on a chair in the corner. "Do you want these clothes now or should I wash them?"

Alex sat at the table and entered her computer password. "I'd hate for you to walk down the street dressed as a cat, so keep them."

The blonde gathered her costume from Halloween, including her heels, and walked towards the door. "See you around."

"Yeah." Alex gave her a forced half-smile. "See you."

With that, Piper left. The dark haired woman ran a hand through her hair and sighed. There were two major things at play that Alex recognized as killers to a potential relationship: Larry and Poppi. She wondered if Piper had balls enough to end things with Larry, and had no doubt that's what the blonde really wanted, but the business competition showed no signs of ending.

She walked into the kitchen and reached for a beer, forgetting that they'd shared her last one the night before. Screw it, she thought, she didn't need alcohol—she needed to pour herself into work.

* * *

Might post another chapter today; depends on if people are eager for one or not. Thanks for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

Warning you before you read this chapter: you're going to want more immediately, and I can't post another chapter until tomorrow afternoon. So if you decide to read this, do so knowing you'll have a 24 hour hiatus.

Thanks SO much for the reviews. Even the negative one; I don't mind. I make choices as a writer that don't appeal to every reader, and I'm ok with that.

* * *

Piper left Alex's flat more than a little aggravated at how the day had ended. Spending the evening with Alex was better than she'd even imagined, and doing yoga and having breakfast together was almost like a date. Piper had never felt so attuned to another person—woman or man—and hated that their connection was (and had to be) short lived. _If only things were different_ …

Their abrupt conversation before she left made the blonde grimace—it was like a bad ending to an otherwise enjoyable movie.

When she opened the door to her apartment, Piper stopped short—there were stacks of boxes lining her living room wall. As of 24 hours ago, she'd only packed three boxes, but now there were at least 15 of them packed, taped and labeled. She noticed a piece of paper on top of one of them.

 _Decided to get some packing done for you this morning. Call when you get home._

 _-Larry_

This infuriated the blonde. She crumbled the paper and threw it as hard as she could, and then walked over and stomped on it. She'd given Larry a key to her apartment months ago, and told him he was welcome to come over with an invitation. They'd laughed about it at the time, but she'd always been serious about wanting to be notified if he planned to make an appearance.

She scrolled in her mobile phone's recent contacts and hit the green button.

"Hey, are you home?" he asked.

"What the _fuck_ , Larry?"

"You noticed that I packed a few boxes," he stated. "I thought I was being helpful."

She put a hand on her forehead. "We need to talk. Now."

"Isn't that what we're doing," he replied sarcastically.

"I mean, in person. Can you come over?"

"I'll be there in 15 minutes." With that, he hung up.

Piper still hadn't made up her mind if she would have 'the talk' with him about not wanting to move in just yet, but this sealed the deal. It didn't help that she'd left Alex's apartment in a foul mood. She almost felt bad that Larry was going to take the brunt of her general, somewhat sexual, frustration.

There was a part of her that wished Polly was here instead of in London meeting Pete's family. She needed someone to talk to. She filled a glass with water and chugged the liquid in four sips. She knew exactly what Polly would say—that she shouldn't have spent time with their major competitor and that she should handle the move-in thing with Larry gently. Polly would list ten reasons why Larry was good for her and another 20 why Alex was certainly not.

That's when it dawned on her that she was _actually considering_ starting something with Alex against her own better judgement. There was, of course, the physical attraction that she couldn't deny, but there was also a mental connection that Piper hadn't expected. She gravitated towards Alex like a moth to a summer streetlight, and the blonde didn't think there was anything she could do to thwart that attraction.

 _It was all wrong_.

Piper didn't know how long she'd been standing in her kitchen deep in thought until she heard a tap on the door. She opened it to see her boyfriend standing in the hallway with hands on his hips. She stepped aside to let him in.

As soon as the door was closed, she dove in. "I can't move in with you, Larry."

His eyebrows nearly touched the ceiling. "What? Where's this coming from?"

"Have you heard one _ounce_ of excitement in my voice when the subject comes up?" She raised her hands. "I don't like being…controlled."

"Is that what you think I'm doing?" he asked through a bitter laugh. "I call it _helping_."

"I told you a long time ago," she pointed sternly at him. "Not to enter my apartment without asking me first, yet you let yourself in today."

He shifted his weight. "You've been so busy that I thought I'd lend you a hand. Sorry for trying to help!"

"Larry, you're only 'helping' so that I can move in with you sooner." Piper lowered her head and inhaled deeply, then exhaled. "I can't do this. I can't. Not right now." She chanced a look at him.

He shook his head. "If you're not ready to move in now, when?"

"I don't know," she replied in a weighty voice.

Larry spun around and ran a hand down his face as silence descended upon them. She should've felt guilty or at least remorseful; instead, she felt relieved.

He turned around again to face her. "Whose shirt is that?"

She pulled at the fabric and looked down at the shirt Alex had let her borrow. It read 'Ithaca is Gorges.' "It's mine, why?"

"When have you been to Ithaca?" He put his hands on his hips again.

"I bought it at a Thrift Store," she lied. "And since when do you keep track of my clothes? That's fucking creepy."

He clenched his jaw. "If you're not going to move in with me, maybe we should take a break so you can figure out what you want."

She admired his conviction—something she didn't typically associate with her boyfriend. "I think that's a good idea."

"Fine. I guess I'll let myself out."

She stood rooted in the middle of her living room and watched Larry exit. He slammed the door, and she dropped to the ground, scooting on her butt until her back was against the wall. Head in her hands, she sighed loudly.

 _What the fuck am I doing_?

* * *

Two weeks passed, and Alex hadn't heard a peep from Piper. She'd thrown herself into work, a coping mechanism she'd learned at a young age, and didn't allow herself time to think about _what ifs_.

Alex wasn't surprised to get the call from Greer at Barney's that her company didn't get the Christmas account. Greer explained that they were looking for a "softer" look for the holidays, but that the spring line was still an option. Gloria was disappointed with the news, but she didn't take it out on Alex; after all, the dark haired woman had nothing to do with Belle's overall look.

The same day she got the unfortunate news about Barney's, Alex received a bit of good news—Garrison Keillor was doing a show at Town Hall two days before Thanksgiving. While in the shower one morning, she allowed herself to think about her course of action. On one hand, she wanted to text Piper, but on the other, she didn't think it was wise. They'd ended things rather bitterly that November 1 morning, and Alex didn't know where she stood with the blonde. She also had no idea if Piper had moved in with her boyfriend or not.

She dried off, fixed her hair, and then got halfway dressed. Before buttoning her blouse, she put her hands on both sides of her dresser and sighed. Alex knew she wouldn't be able to erase the blonde from her mind now that she'd allowed her to enter.

She picked up her cell phone and opened a new text message. "Congratulations on Barney's. It's 1 to 1."

She finished getting dressed, and then headed to the Upper East Side for work. As Alex jogged up the steps from the Subway to the streets of Manhattan, she felt her phone vibrate.

"You're keeping score?" Piper wrote.

The brunette couldn't judge her tone, so proceeded cautiously. "What can I say? I'm competitive."

She arrived at the office a few minutes later, said hello to Kenyon and listened to one of his stories about dating the "whore men of New York." He claimed that they were on him like "kittens on their momma's titties" because of how he smelled (all thanks to the Belle samples Margeaux had been giving him.) She went to her office, still laughing at Kenyon's antics.

Alex looked at her cell phone and didn't see a response from Piper, so she decided to take a risk. "Let me take you out to celebrate your victory."

She powered on her computer while awaiting a reply. If one was not forthcoming, Alex had enough to keep her mind occupied for the next two weeks with her inbox alone.

"That's rather mature of you," Piper typed.

Alex smiled. "I'm an adult. Maturity comes with the territory."

"Not always," Piper replied.

The brunette wondered if this had anything to do with Larry. She didn't know the guy but assumed he wouldn't have a chance if he was the only thing standing in the way of her and Piper. Still, with him out of the picture, she had a better shot of winning the blonde over. It was just a matter of figuring out the business rival thing.

"I'm pretty tied up right now. How about Nov. 24?" Alex typed.

Piper didn't reply until hours later, and the brunette wondered if she was making a list of pros and cons about going out with her. Alex figured it could go either way. She wasn't used to having to work for a possible date with a woman—they flocked to her without much effort on her part, and she found herself turning most of them down.

"Where do you want to meet?"

Alex smiled at Piper's response but wondered if that was the blonde's way of stating that this was _not_ a date—there would be no picking up or dropping off at one's home.

"Monarch Rooftop Lounge, 6 p.m."

"See you then." Piper typed.

It might not have been billed as a date, but Alex beamed at the thought of seeing Piper again.

* * *

There was a chance that she'd see Alex prior to their evening out, but Piper didn't attend the sales meeting at Lord & Taylor. She and Polly had finally hired a sales person—25 year old Milandu, originally from China and recent Wharton graduate. They'd sent her to the department store meeting while trying to restock the Barney's Christmas order before the end of the week.

"Shit, I have to go." Piper stood and closed her laptop.

Polly stopped typing. "Where are you going?"

"Meeting someone for a drink." She kept her eyes down.

Piper had filled her best friend in on what went down with Larry, and as she expected, Polly was disappointed. Of course, the blonde didn't mention Alex, but she didn't think that part of the story was relevant—at least not to Polly who already couldn't stand the dark haired woman.

"Do I know this person?"

"It's somebody I met at yoga," she lied as she grabbed her coat and scarf from the hook on the back of the door.

Polly didn't seemed phased by her answer, and for that, the blonde was grateful. "Alright. Have fun while I slave away here."

She gave her friend a look. "Why don't you go home, too? Have dinner with Pete before 9 o'clock."

"That would be a treat," Polly admitted, cracking her knuckles.

"See you in the morning." Piper smiled and left the building.

It was a cold night in the city, and she was glad that she'd brought her thick coat. She rode the Subway downtown and fixed her hair and applied a fresh coat of makeup along the way. After dabbing Mac gloss on her mouth, Piper smacked her lips together and stepped off the train.

She took the elevator to the 18th floor, smiling at the fiasco of getting stuck with Alex in the Barney's elevator two months ago.

The Monarch was fairly crowded, but she noticed Alex almost immediately at the end of the bar. The brunette was wearing a sleek metallic dress with red pumps. She threw her head back, apparently laughing at something the man next to her was saying, and Piper couldn't peel her eyes away from Alex's long, milky white neck.

Piper removed her coat and checked it with the hostess. She made her way over to the other woman, feeling her heart beat a little faster with each step, all but forgetting how the day ended when they saw each other last.

Alex stood, and her eyes roamed over the blonde's body. "What, no animal costume?"

Piper had chosen her outfit that day for precisely this occasion. She knew that the Banana Republic sweater dress hugged her body in all the right ways, especially when she was the target of several cat calls from construction workers earlier that morning. She'd curled her hair that morning, too, but there was nothing she could do about the way some of the ringlets had already unraveled.

"Are you one of those _furries_ or something?" Piper greeted, not knowing if she should shake her companion's hand, go in for a hug, or do nothing.

Alex made the decision for her and wrapped her arms around her slender frame. Piper relished in her crisp, autumn-like scent and tried to keep the wonder out of her mind if Alex was wearing Belle products—she didn't want to focus on work. _Not tonight_.

"No, but you were one sexy cat." The brunette dragged her hand down Piper's arm. "Thanks for meeting me."

Piper blushed, and Alex's touch made her quiver with anticipation. "Thank you for inviting me."

She signaled for the bartender with the nod of her head. "What would you like to drink?"

He approached them with a cocktail shaker in one hand.

"I'll have a Hendricks martini, please. Two olives," the blonde ordered. She could feel Alex's fingertips on the small of her back.

"Same."

The women were standing close to each other—close enough for Piper to smell the brunette's cinnamon breath. After they placed their cocktail orders, Alex didn't back away. Her hand lingered on Piper's hip, and the blonde found herself inching even closer to keep the contact.

"How was your day?" Alex asked.

"Busy," she sighed. "There aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done."

"Tell me about it." She removed her hand, and Piper already missed the touch. "Congratulations on the Barney's account."

"Thank you. I don't know if I'd congratulate you on your success." Their drinks arrived. "In fact, I know I wouldn't."

Alex shrugged. "I don't own Belle. You own your company, so I could see why it would hit closer to home for you."

Piper nodded. She'd never thought of it that way.

"Let's not talk about work tonight, deal?"

The blonde agreed, smiling at her companion.

She raised her martini glass. "Here's to a fun night where our only disagreement will be on what kind of food to order."

Piper chuckled. "Cheers."

The women locked eyes, and the blonde watched Alex's expression change from jovial to seductive in seconds.

"So, what's new with you?" Alex asked.

She'd had no intention of bringing up Larry, but she found herself vomiting information about their semi-breakup aloud. "I'm not moving in with Larry."

Alex swallowed the gin. "Really?"

She nodded. "The day I came home from yoga (she was careful not to say 'spending the night at your place'), he'd gone into my apartment and packed boxes. I was furious."

"Did he have a key?"

"Yes, but I told him he wasn't allowed to use it unless I gave him permission," she explained.

Alex popped an olive into her mouth. "Definitely out of bounds."

"So I just blurted it out—that I wasn't ready to move in with him." She took a sip of her cocktail.

"Was he pissed?"

"Of course he was." And another sip. "I haven't talked to him in two weeks."

"I'd say I'm sorry to hear that…" the brunette lifted her glass to her mouth. "But I'm not really. I mean, I'm sorry that you might be hurting, but I think you made the right decision if you weren't ready to take the next step."

"Thank you, but I'm not hurting." She lowered her head. "Maybe I should be, but I'm not."

The two ordered another round of martinis and debated about what food to order. They settled on caprese skewers and bruschetta. They made small talk about yoga, fitness in general, and both of their childhoods.

A few times throughout the hour and a half at the bar, Alex touched Piper in some intimate way. Her touches were benign enough for the blonde to wonder if they were intentional or not. She had to examine if she wanted them to be. If Piper was being honest with herself, the answer was a resounding, _yes_.

Alex looked at her watch. "I have a surprise for you."

"Do you turn into a pumpkin at midnight?"

The dark haired woman chuckled. "No, but if it was midnight, you'd miss the surprise." She handed Piper an envelope. "Open it."

Piper gently lifted the flap of the envelope and pulled out two tickets. She could feel her face light up as she read the bold print, " _An Evening with Garrison Keillor_. No way! Alex, this is…these are…wow!" She threw her arms around the woman next to her, burying her head in the crook of her neck.

"I thought you might like it," Alex whispered.

She pulled back, hands on each of Alex's cheeks. "Thank you."

The brunette covered Piper's wrists with her own hands. "You're welcome."

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment longer than any two friends would, and Piper considered kissing the other woman. This was one of the kindest, most thoughtful gestures that she'd been the recipient of in years, and she was overcome with emotion.

Before she'd made up her mind, Alex released her and pulled away. "We have to get a move on if we want to make it on time."

"Ok." She drained her second martini. "Want my last olive?"

Alex leaned forward, opening her mouth a little. Piper took that as an indication to lift the toothpick to the brunette's mouth so that she could pluck the olive off. What she wouldn't give for those lips to be tugging on her nipple instead of an olive. Piper swallowed hard. "I'm going to pay for this."

"You certainly will not." Alex stopped her with a hand on her forearm. "I asked you to have a celebratory drink with me. I'm paying."

She could tell by the set of Alex's jaw that there was no use arguing. Instead, she excused herself to the restroom to freshen up. While inside, Piper's face broke out into a huge grin. The woman at the sink next to her probably thought she was maniacal.

Other than being business rivals, she adored everything about Alex—her mind, her generosity, her clothing, her body, her ability to tell stories, her confidence…the list went on. Piper confessed to herself that if Alex made a move on her, there was no way she'd be able to resist.

* * *

It's about to get hot. Let me know if that's alright with ya'll.


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter is rated M for Mature**. If you are underage, please do not read this.

* * *

There was nothing about Piper that Alex didn't like—her facial expressions, her business mentality, her random knowledge, her body, the way she smelled…the list went on. Alex was a good judge of character, and what she saw in the other woman was what she was looking for in a partner—not that she'd been looking. Life was too busy for more than friendships and one night stands, she thought, until Piper Chapman entered her life with her long legs and insistence upon doing what was right.

The only thing standing between them was work, and it was driving Alex insane. It wasn't fair that they couldn't _at least try_ being together, but she was fairly certain that Piper wouldn't risk her promising career to pursue a romantic relationship with her business rival.

The blonde met her at the bank of elevators just outside of The Monarch, and they rode down together, reminiscing about the time they'd gotten stuck in October.

"I didn't want to play 20 questions with you," Piper admitted.

"Really?" She rolled her eyes. "I couldn't sense that."

The blonde playfully hit Alex's arm with her elbow.

"I had to find a way to make you like me," Alex admitted.

She smiled. "And you thought you'd accomplish that by confessing you had a crush on Smurfette or that you dressed as Gene Simmons one Halloween?"

"I had to try." The brunette shrugged.

The elevator opened on the lobby level, and Piper exited first, tossing " _It worked_ " over her shoulder.

Alex smirked. _Game on_.

They made it to Town Hall as the lights dimmed, and Alex put her hand on Piper's back, allowing her to enter the row first. Garrison Keillor shared hilarious anecdotes about growing up in the Midwest, and the brunette found herself laughing out loud several times. She watched Piper's reaction almost as intently as she watched the man on stage. The blonde didn't stop smiling the entire time.

About three quarters of the way through the show, Alex put her arm on the armrest between them, not realizing that Piper's already occupied the space. The blonde looked at their hands first, and then up at Alex.

"Oops." The brunette wasn't about to apologize, but she _did_ give Piper a reason to retract if she wanted.

"It's ok." Piper smiled and bumped her pinky against Alex's hand.

They played a little game of pinky war, both smiling at the back-and-forth antics, and then the dark haired woman decided to take a risk. She linked their fingers together and scooted Piper's arm over so that they could share the armrest.

The blonde bit her lower lip, and Alex felt Piper's hand shift under her own. Piper had taken hold of two of her fingers, so Alex took the opportunity to weave their fingers together to properly hold hands. Piper squeezed her hand, and then looked at the stage and laughed at Garrison Keillor's tale.

Alex couldn't recall a time when her head was spinning like it was then—maybe when she was drunk, but she was definitely not drunk—not on alcohol. An announcement about a fire in the building could have rang through the loud speakers, but Alex wouldn't have heard it. All she could hear was the voice inside her head that said, _she's totally into you_.

* * *

Piper hoped that Alex couldn't feel her nerves through their connected hands. Her pulse was already heightened, and now, it was probably at 180 beats a minute—faster than during her most intense workouts. She kept her eyes focused on the stage, enjoying Garrison Keillor's stories, but the blonde knew she looked like a giddy school girl with a smile from ear to ear plastered on her face. The common passer by would've assumed her smile was a tribute to Mr. Keillor's performance, but truth be told, it had everything to do with the woman seated next to her.

The question was, what would happen next? Piper _wanted_ Alex—she'd wanted her probably since the day they met—it was only now that she could fully recognize and acknowledge that deep desire, and she was pretty certain that the brunette felt the same. There was only one thing stopping them: work.

The show ended, and the blonde hoped that Alex was savvy enough to navigate their situation, because she had no idea how to proceed.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Alex escorted her out of their row.

"It was everything I'd hoped it would be. Thank you _so_ much."

"You're welcome." The brunette reached for her hand.

Once again, her heart fluttered at the touch. Alex looked down at her, seemingly to ensure that she was ok with the gesture. Piper smiled and hoped that was all the dark hair woman needed for encouragement.

"Do you want a nightcap?" Alex offered.

"No thanks, I have a big day tomorrow." If Alex had asked if she'd wanted to go to her apartment, the answer would've been yes, but going to another bar didn't sound like the way she wanted the evening to end.

As if she'd read the blonde's mind, Alex asked in a thicker than normal voice, "Do you want to go back to my place?"

Piper sobered and looked up at her companion. "Is that what you want?"

"Very badly," Alex admitted with a slight laugh and a smirk.

The blonde squeezed her hand. "Me, too."

If Piper had to guess, she'd assume they'd rush home without much talk to get to the business of hot, perhaps wild, passionate sex. Instead, Alex controlled the pace and took her time walking back home. She made conversation about the contrasts of Garrison Keillor's upbringing and her own, and she invited Piper to offer comparisons as well. Alex's intellectual capacity was astounding, and it made Piper want her that much more.

When they arrived at Alex's flat, she didn't know if the brunette would pounce on her or take it slow. She'd rather have been taken against the door right then and there, watching Alex's head bob between her legs, but the dark haired woman had other ideas.

"Bourbon?"

"Sure." Piper joined her in the kitchen and brushed a hand across her waist as she took her place next to the brunette at the counter. She didn't remove her hand, a fact that Alex seemed to enjoy, judging by her grin.

Alex poured two glasses and brought them to the living room. She sat on the sofa, waiting for the blonde to join her.

Piper raised her glass. "To an unforgettable night."

Alex lifted one eyebrow, making it clear that she was thinking, _you ain't seen nothin' yet_. "Cheers."

They took a sip of their Maker's Mark, and then Alex leaned in closer, rubbing her nose on Piper's jaw, followed by her lips. She moved to the column of her neck, and took a deep breath before her mouth covered the expanse of skin. "How do you still smell so good?"

The blonde extended her neck, giving her more room to explore, and placed her hand on the dark haired woman's leg. "Our products last all day."

She heard Alex chuckle as she kissed more exposed skin. "Let me guess, cinnamon apple berry?"

"How'd you know?" She continued rubbing Alex's leg.

"I do my research. I can tell you every scent in the Poppi line." She pulled back, and traced her finger along the path she'd just kissed. "Melon bliss, cucumber basil, pomegranate molasses, green tea…"

Piper chuckled. "Is this like foreplay for you, or are you trying to steal company secrets?"

"Is that what you think this is?" The brunette snickered. "Foreplay?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Isn't it?"

The laughter died as Alex leaned in and kissed the blonde on the lips. " _Yeah_."

Piper felt as if she was seeing stars. She put one hand on the brunette's cheek, and the other remained on her leg, slowly inching under her dress up to her mid-thigh. She cursed herself for the whimper she made, especially when Alex smirked at the sound.

She felt like a teenager, making out in her boyfriend's house—it was part excitement and part uncertainty.

"Can we really do this?" Piper asked, worried that if things progressed beyond this, there was no way she could retreat.

Alex didn't stop kissing her as her hands tangled in the blonde's hair. "We can."

"What about Poppi and Belle?" Piper hadn't wanted to verbalize that question, but the only thing firing on all cylinders was her libido.

"We aren't our jobs, Piper." The brunette pulled back, hands on Piper's shoulders. "I get how you could think that, but I don't want to be with you to learn company secrets. I want to be with you because I think you're interesting and funny and intelligent and fucking gorgeous."

Piper covered her hands with her own, and as Alex's hands roamed up her neck to her jaw, the blonde bent down to capture Alex's thumb with her mouth. "I feel the same."

She picked up Piper's hand and kissed her knuckles. "Then let's not insert work into _this_."

Piper wasted no time devouring the other woman's mouth. This was the first time tongues were involved, and it felt _fucking fabulous_. The moans weren't one-sided this time. Alex was the first to thrust her hand under the blonde's dress, moving it up and down her inner thigh. Piper spread her legs, indicating that what her companion was doing was _just fine_.

Alex broke the kiss to continue the journey with her lips down the other woman's neck, but this time, one hand led the way and massaged her breast.

"That feels good," the blonde mumbled. "I want to touch you."

"Then do. _Please_."

Piper rubbed her hands down Alex's arms, down to her legs and pushed her dress up without hesitation. She clawed at the other woman's upper thighs, moving her thumbs towards her center.

It felt like a race to see who could get who off first. Alex's hand dove further south, cupping Piper's center through her underwear, and the blonde bucked forward. " _Fuck_."

Alex was able to snake two fingers under the waistband of Piper's underwear, and the blonde watched a cocky smirk form on her lover's lips when she realized that Piper was already soaking wet.

Piper attempted to do the same, but her middle finger was the only part that made contact with the brunette's center. The heat and the slickness that she could feel between Alex's legs turned her on even more. Alex removed her hand and brought two fingers to her mouth and slowly sucked them before burying those same fingers inside the blonde's pussy again.

"Alex, I'm…I'm cuming. I'm cuming, I'm cuming, I'm cuming!"

Piper's eyes were screwed shut, and her body writhed uncontrollably until she came down from an amazing orgasm. "Wow, that was…"

The smug look on Alex's face said it all. "I have very talented fingers."

She collapsed onto the other woman, and Alex wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to like being with you way too much," the blonde admitted, stroking Alex's arm with her thumb.

"Good." She kissed her again. "We're afraid of the same thing."

Piper turned in her arms and they kissed again. This time it was less hungry but equally passionate.

"I've never gone down on a woman," the blonde confessed.

Alex chuckled. "It's not rocket science."

"I figured as much." Piper moved lower on the sofa.

Piper looped a finger inside the waistband of Alex's underwear, and the brunette helped her remove them. The blonde kissed a trail up Alex's thighs to her neatly shaved center. "You smell good."

Alex smiled. Her back was leaning against the armrest, and her arm was crooked at the elbow, hand holding her tilted head.

Piper leaned in, nudging Alex's folds with her nose. She took in another deep breath before plunging her tongue inside of her new lover.

This caused Alex to release the hold of her own head and grab Piper's with one hand. "You're doing it very well."

"Good," Piper replied between long licks. "You taste good, too."

That was it—Alex convulsed in Piper's mouth, and the blonde put her mouth over her entrance, hoping to taste her juices and sucking for all she was worth. When Alex came down from that high, Piper lapped up her wetness.

"If there was a first-timers award for that, you'd win," Alex panted.

"Yeah?" She crawled back up the brunette's body, shoving Alex's dress up until she was completely naked, except for her black & blue laced bra.

"Definitely." Alex reached for the blonde, pulling her up by the elbows. "You have on entirely too many clothes."

Piper straddled her, knees on either side of Alex's hips. "Undress me."

Alex ran her finger down Piper's cheek, neck, and then chest. "You don't want to give me a little strip show?"

The blonde bit her lip when she felt Alex's hand rub her right breast. "There's no music."

"I can fix that." She started to sit up.

Piper pushed her back down. "No. Some other time."

"Promise?" She hooked her hands under the hem of Piper's dress and slowly started pushing it up, running her palms on the outside of the blonde's thighs.

She nodded. "Promise."

Their lips crashed together, and Piper enjoyed being on her knees to where she had to bend down to kiss her lover.

Alex, for her part, ran her palms over every bit of silky skin that she could find as Piper's dress gathered on the brunette's arms. When the material gathered too much, Alex had to pull back to remove the garment. She leaned her back against the arm of the sofa and stared at the beauty in front of her. Alex's hands resumed touching bare skin, first on the blonde's stomach, and then her sides, and finally around to Piper's back so that she could unclasp her bra.

Piper's bra was unhooked, but not removed as Alex bent down and took one of her nipples through the red laced fabric. The blonde moaned and threw her head back. "Take it off."

She felt Alex laugh against her breast. "Anxious?"

"Mmm hmm." Piper ran her hands through her black hair.

The brunette looked up at her, slight smile on her face. She removed her glasses and threw them onto the coffee table.

Piper touched her cheek. "I've never seen you without your glasses."

"Unless I'm super close, I can't see you without them." She removed Piper's bra, flung it to the side and stared at her tits. "And I definitely want to see you." Alex leaned forward, tugging the blonde's nipple with her lips—the same one she'd concentrated on with fabric covering it seconds ago.

Piper was barely coherent enough to recall her wish back at The Monarch of Alex tugging on her nipple instead of the olive. Her mouth hung open as she pulled Alex's head closer. When the sensation was too much to tolerate, the blonde yanked Alex's head up and kissed her firmly on the mouth. Alex ran her tongue over Piper's teeth, and then sunk it into the other woman's mouth. Hands traveled across each other's bodies, and Piper didn't know if she'd last much longer before another orgasm ripped through her.

Alex's hand snaked between her folds once again, but the blonde pushed it away. "I want you to lick me."

That was all it took for Alex to shove her down, back landing firmly against the soft sofa cushions, and position herself between the blonde's legs. She raised one of Piper's legs over her right shoulder, and the other dangled off the lip of the couch. Alex spread the blonde's pussy and looked at it before taking one, long lick.

"Fuck, Alex!" Her hands instinctively held the brunette's head in place.

Alex licked her again and again, until she sopped up her sticky wetness. She lightly bit Piper's clit, then massaged it with her tongue.

The blonde's orgasm shot through her almost instantly, and she yelled to the point of wondering if a neighbor could hear. She didn't care. The orgasm lasted almost a full minute, and as her stomach muscles tightened with every wave of pleasure, Alex put her hand there to feel the contractions.

"Holy shit," the blonde panted, forearm now resting on her forehead.

"Your stomach is fucking hot." Alex scooted up a bit and gave Piper two hickies on her belly.

When she'd recovered enough to realize what her lover was doing, Piper laughed. "You're kissing my tummy?"

"If I could _fuck_ it, I would."

The blonde dragged Alex up, using all of her strength until she was sure that the brunette understood what she wanted.

"Like this?" Alex asked, pussy hovering above Piper's hungry mouth.

"Yeah." She craned her neck, covering Alex's mound fully, sucking and nipping and making noises.

"Mmm…eat me, Piper."

This drove Piper to stick her tongue into the other woman's opening, causing Alex to release into her mouth. She bucked against Piper's chin, essentially fucking her mouth hard. The blonde grabbed Alex's ass, encouraging the movements and keeping her mouth wide open inside of her dripping pussy.

"Oh, God! Piper!"

She came down from that intense orgasm and lowered her center so that she could lay on top of the blonde. They kissed again, more leisurely this time.

"Do you like how you taste on my mouth?" Piper asked.

"Mmm hmm."

They made out some more, touching and rubbing each other but not to the point of orgasm. It was more of a gentle, loving exploration of bodies. Eventually, they moved to Alex's bedroom, where another four rounds of sex ensued until both women fell asleep.

* * *

Alex was the first to wake up, and she looked down to see a slumbering Piper resting her head on her chest. The brunette threw both arms around her, squeezing her body in a tight embrace. She couldn't believe that they'd made it to this point. And as expected, the sex was phenomenal. Just thinking about the way they pleasured each other got Alex all worked up again.

She carefully rolled the blonde onto her back, and then crawled to the bottom of the bed as Piper began to stir. Alex dipped her head between Piper's legs, giving her a soft lick, and then another.

"Mmm," the blonde moaned, slowly blinking. "That feels good."

Alex continued licking her lover, using one hand to open her folds more fully. "You taste incredible."

Piper put a hand on the back of her head, and Alex sped up her motions until the blonde came softly in her mouth.

The brunette made sure her lover had exhausted herself before crawling back up her body and smiling at her sleepy form. "Good morning."

Piper reached out a hand to wipe Alex's glistening chin. "Morning."

"You're even more beautiful than you were last night." The brunette grinned.

She blushed. "That's not possible."

"Yeah, it is." She leaned down for a long, leisurely French kiss.

The two had sex another three times, and then Alex's phone alarm sounded.

"Fuck! What time is it?" Piper shot up.

The brunette silenced the alarm. "Almost 7."

"I have a meeting at 8," Piper announced, stepping out of bed. "Mind if I take a shower?"

Alex smirked. "Only if I'm invited."

"You are, but I really have to rush." The blonde entered the bathroom. "Fuck, Alex, I have hickies all over my body!"

The dark haired woman walked up behind her. "Not on your neck—just on your chest, stomach and maybe one on your right thigh."

Piper looked down at her leg "Are those scratch marks?"

"That one round was pretty rough," the brunette offered, kissing her neck several times.

The blonde turned around in Alex's arms and kissed her deeply. "I like it rough. Not all the time, but sometimes."

It took everything within Alex's power not to take her again right there, but she had to respect Piper's timeline for the morning. The last thing she wanted was to be blamed for the blonde missing a work meeting, and then wondering if Piper thought she'd sidetracked her intentionally.

"Shower," Alex commanded between kisses.

They did their best to shower together without messing around, but it was a fruitless cause. What should've taken 10 minutes lasted 30, and Piper kept saying _fuck_ as she scooted around Alex's apartment finding remnants of clothing.

"I won't have time to go to my apartment before the meeting, and I can't wear the same dress as yesterday." She let out a frustrated sigh.

"Easy, babe." The brunette walked into her closet. "I'm sure I have something in here that would work."

Piper blushed at Alex's term of endearment, finding herself grinning like the Mona Lisa.

The brunette pulled a simple black dress off the hanger. "No one would suspect a thing if you wore this wrap dress."

Piper pulled the dress over her head, and although it was a bit long, overall she was satisfied with the fit. She owned a very similar dress and hoped Polly wouldn't notice the difference.

"I have to run." She grabbed her phone and handbag and made her way to the door.

"Last night was…" Alex sauntered over, and kissed her once on the nose, and then on the lips. "Wonderful."

"What about this morning?" Piper put a hand on the other woman's arm, pulling back a bit before getting sucked in to another searing kiss.

"Equally stupendous." She grinned.

The blonde tilted her head. "Can I see you tonight?"

Alex raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Definitely."


	9. Chapter 9

Another chapter with an M rating.

* * *

They spent the next two nights together, having copious amounts of sex and claiming that they could catch up on sleep over the Thanksgiving holiday. Both companies had given their employees Thursday and Friday off.

"We haven't talked about Thanksgiving," Piper said, kissing the brunette's beauty mark on her stomach, something she'd wanted to do since the morning Alex changed into her yoga attire.

"You mean tomorrow?" Alex chuckled.

Piper gave her a look. "What are you doing for the holiday?"

"Nothing." The brunette ran her fingers through Piper's hair. "Nothing special, anyway. Sleeping, catching up on work, and maybe ordering a pizza."

Piper sat up. "You can't do that; it's Thanksgiving."

She adjusted the pillow under her neck. "What do you suggest I do?"

The blonde looked up as if thoughts would matriculate from the sky. "I know!" She got on both knees and took one of Alex's hand in hers. "Let's celebrate Thanksgiving together."

"I don't think so." Alex rubbed her thumb across the back of the blonde's hand. "As proven yesterday, neither one of us can cook Kraft Macaroni & Cheese without ruining it. How the hell are we supposed to make a Thanksgiving dinner?"

"That's because we let the noodles boil too long and they got mushy," the blonde pouted.

"Yeah, because you attacked me in the kitchen," she chuckled.

Piper blushed, recalling the sex they had on the kitchen floor that involved strawberries and cream. "I don't know." She shrugged. "But we can try."

Alex leaned forward and placed a kiss on her lips. "We could order something from Zabar's."

"That won't cut it." Piper hopped out of bed. "Let's give it a shot. It'll be fun. We'll need to go shopping tonight. We need a turkey, cranberries, potatoes…"

"Whoa, slow down, Pipes." She adjusted in the bed to a more comfortable position with one leg bent at the knee, the other straight forward. "That's going to be way too much food for the two of us."

She shrugged again. "Invite your friends."

Alex lifted her eyebrows. "I thought we were supposed to be doing this in secret?"

" _Your_ friends can know about us. Just not _mine_ ," the blonde offered as she went into the living room in search of paper and a pen. "And no work-related people."

"You really want to do this?" Alex called after her.

"Yes." The blonde returned, already writing a grocery list. "Besides a turkey and salt & pepper, what do we need to bake a bird?"

Alex laughed. "If you don't even know that, I think we're in trouble."

She could tell by the look in the brunette's eyes that she was tickled at her efforts to make this a 'real' Thanksgiving. Piper wondered for a split second if she was falling in love with Alex and if that process had actually begun months ago.

The brunette jumped on her laptop while Piper rested her chin on Alex's shoulder as they scanned recipes for items they'd need to purchase. By the time they were done, the grocery list was two pages long.

They'd agreed to meet at a grocery store in Brooklyn after work so as not to run into any of Piper's family or friends, especially Polly. The blonde knew that Polly didn't go to Brooklyn often, so she assumed that was a safe course of action.

* * *

Piper had successfully avoided the _what are you doing for Thanksgiving_ question from Polly all week. It wasn't until the women ate their salads together at lunch in the conference room when the question surfaced.

"Are you going to your parents' house tomorrow?" Polly asked around a mouthful of Caesar salad.

"No, I'm going to stick around here," she averted her eyes as she prepared to tell a white lie. "Some of my yoga friends are cooking a Thanksgiving meal, and I offered to help."

Polly looked at her funny. "Since when do you cook? And when do I get to meet your yoga friends?"

"A. Never and B. Soon." Piper stabbed a cucumber with her fork. "I just thought it'd be fun."

"Well, as always, you're welcome to come to my father's house." She sipped her Diet Coke.

"Thanks, Pol." The blonde was pleased that she'd successfully managed to navigate the conversation without giving her true plans away.

The women worked until 6, and then decided to call it a night. They'd met with their chemist almost all morning, going through a fragrance sampling for their spring line, and it was all coming together nicely.

* * *

Piper took the Subway to Brooklyn, eager to get the Thanksgiving shopping done and grateful that Polly hadn't pushed harder about her plans. She hated lying to her best friend, but her… _situation_ with Alex was less than a week old—she didn't think it was an appropriate time to mention something that could be short-lived (though she hoped that it wouldn't be.)

She thought about Alex on the ride to Brooklyn and found herself smiling like a fool. Alex, she thought, was a generous lover, and she relished in making Piper come undone in bed. She was more of a nurturer than Piper would have pegged her for. She'd made coffee and a light breakfast the past two mornings and picked up dinner on her way home both nights. Alex even offered to bring the blonde's dry cleaning in that morning since she needed to bring several dresses of her own.

The next question was if Piper could use one of her drawers and a few hangers in the closet. It was easier to keep their relationship secret if Piper stayed at Alex's apartment rather than the other way around. Polly had been known to stop by the blonde's place unannounced, and she couldn't have that.

"Hey, kid," Alex greeted her at the top of the steps of the Atlantic Avenue Subway station. "Took you long enough."

The blonde tied her cream-colored scarf around her neck. "It wasn't exactly a short commute."

Alex gave her a peck on the cheek. "Tell me about it. Took me 40 minutes."

Piper blushed but leaned into the chaste kiss. "Trader Joe's first?"

"Sounds good."

It was the perfect autumn evening—cool but not cold, and the smell of roasted chestnuts and candy apples filled the air.

The blonde pulled out the first page of the grocery list, which she'd organized into categories: produce, meat, dry food, frozen food, and booze. Alex had given her shit for 'being anal,' but Piper promised that her organizational skills would make the shopping painless.

They decided to divide and conquer, meeting at the turkey aisle to pick out the perfect bird.

"Um, did the recipe say how big the turkey should be?" Piper looked in the refrigerated bin at birds varying from 10 to 25 pounds.

Alex scratched her head. "No, I don't think so."

"Let's just go with one on the smaller side." She lifted three turkeys before finding a 12 pound one.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "I cannot believe you're doing this."

" _We're_ doing this," she replied with a wide grin.

The women finished at Trader Joe's and realized that it would be nearly impossible to carry their six bags into the next grocery store, where they would buy even more food.

"Here's what we'll do." Alex hoisted a bag over her shoulder. "I'm going to get an Uber and take all of the groceries with me. You'll finish shopping at the Met Market. We only need like 10 more things, right?"

Piper scanned the list. "Yeah, about."

"Ok, that's the plan." The brunette walked to the corner and waited for the Uber to arrive while Piper went on her way.

Twenty minutes later, the blonde met Alex at the corner of Flatbush & Park with four more bags and a pumpkin under her arm. "I think this is all of it."

The brunette grabbed the bags and shoved them in the trunk. "What's the pumpkin for?"

"Decoration." She blew a strand of hair out of her mouth.

"That wasn't on the list." Alex grinned. "We could've bought plane tickets for less money than this little excursion."

She smiled and smacked the brunette's ass before hopping into the Prius. "Where's the fun in that?"

* * *

Alex had already asked Nicky and Lorna if they wanted to join her and Piper for Thanksgiving, and the two women were grateful for the offer. Nicky had no intention of spending the holiday with her "deranged mother," and Lorna's family cooked meatballs and spaghetti on the holiday.

By the time the brunette got out of bed, Piper was already in the kitchen washing potatoes.

"Morning," she greeted the blonde while pulling a t-shirt over her shoulders and walking into the kitchen. (They'd slept naked all three nights.)

"Happy Thanksgiving." Piper smiled.

"You, too." Alex kissed her on the forehead. "It already smells good in here."

"I'm browning onions for the stuffing." She turned off the faucet and put the potatoes on a dish towel. "Ready to help?"

"Sure," Alex sighed. "Can I get some coffee first?"

"Yeah." Piper picked up a knife and prepared to chop the spuds.

The brunette watched her closely and loved that Piper had borrowed her pajamas that were a size too big. _It would be so easy to fall into domestic harmony with this woman_ , she thought. "We need music." She turned on her iPod and speaker, and the Temptations blared throughout the apartment.

"That's a sacrilege!" The blonde turned off the iPod. "It's Thanksgiving, and that means only one thing." She padded into the living room, picking up the television remote.

"Football?" Alex cocked one leg out and put a hand on her hip. "I somehow thought we'd share a mutual loathing for the sport."

"Not football—the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade." Piper searched the on-screen guide for the proper channel. "Did you know that they reuse the balloons every year and that the average balloon, like Kermit or Hello Kitty, lasts eight years?"

"I did not." Alex smirked. "What other trivia do you have, floating around in your pretty little head?"

She walked back into the kitchen. "The balloons used to be designed and made in a Tootsie Roll factory until they moved to their own space a few years ago."

The brunette sauntered over, wrapping her arms around her lover's waist from behind. "Is that right?" She planted a few kisses on the curve of Piper's neck.

The blonde would have none of it. She removed Alex's arms and stepped out of her embrace. "We have work to do. _This_ has to wait."

Alex sighed, but followed Piper's instructions.

Over the next three hours, the women chopped, diced, and cubed. Piper complained about her wrist hurting from all of the cutting she had to do, but when her lover offered to take over the chopping duties, the blonde wasn't happy with her knife skills. ("I grew up watching Julia Child," was one of her remarks. Alex had the decency not to reply, "Then why can't you cook?") Instead, the brunette massaged the other woman's wrist with her hands and lips before letting her return to julienning the veggies.

By mid-day, they were able to begin tasting food, starting with the mashed potatoes.

"Mmm. These are good." Alex swallowed the fluffy bite. "Like, _really_ good."

Piper licked the spoon. "I'm not going to tell you how much butter I used."

The brunette pulled her lover by the waist and kissed her soundly.

"What was that for?" She wiped Alex's glistening lower lip with her thumb.

"Thank you for making me do this," she whispered, capturing Piper's mouth again.

Piper dropped the spoon on the counter and wrapped her arms around the brunette. They made out to the point of Alex becoming highly aroused, so she dipped a hand down her lover's pajama pants and squeezed her mound.

The blonde whimpered.

Alex inserted a finger into her opening, and then dragged it to her clit several times.

Piper's head rolled back as she closed her eyes and gave in to the sensation. "You're going to make me cum."

"That's the idea." She sped up her motions until the blonde convulsed in her arms.

"Oh, God, Alex! Yeah, yeah, yes…Oh, God!" Piper tried to control her breathing as she came down from the quick but satisfying orgasm.

"I'll never get tired of watching you like that," Alex offered with a kiss on her cheek.

"Your turn." The blonde pushed her until she was backed up against the kitchen counter.

"It doesn't have to be tit for tat, you know."

"Speaking of tits…" Piper lifted her lover's t-shirt and gobbled one of her nipples.

Alex put her hand on the back of Piper's head and moaned at her warm mouth on her cold nipple. "That feels good, babe."

"I love when you call me that." She bathed the other nipple with her tongue before putting her hands on Alex's hips, suggesting that she wanted her on the counter.

The brunette moved the chopping board far enough away to hop onto the granite, and Piper pulled down her plaid pajama pants.

She dove between her lover's legs, licking and sucking and slurping. It didn't take long for the other woman to cum loudly.

"Where did that come from?" Alex asked, placing her hand on the other woman's cheek.

"You got me off first." Piper stood and kissed her. "So you tell me."

The brunette smiled. "I guess I just couldn't resist."

Alex hopped off the counter. "Let's take a shower, and then come back to finish everything."

Another round of sex ensued in the shower, which was no surprise to Alex. She discovered that they both had a hard time keeping their hands off of each other while naked.

* * *

By 5 p.m. most of the food was cooked except for the turkey, which needed another couple of hoursin the oven. Alex tried to convince Piper to take a nap after both women had slaved away in the kitchen all day, but the blonde wouldn't bite. She still needed to make the hors d'oeuvres and demanded her lover's help.

At six, Lorna and Nicky arrived, each with a pie and a bottle of wine.

"It's nice to meet you." Lorna shook her hand. "We saw you in the bar earlier this fall, but Alex didn't introduce us."

The blonde recalled the day not that long ago when Alex had sent over a Pina Colada, and then her friends drug her away to go to a concert. "It's nice to meet you, too."

Nicky eyed the blonde from head to toe. "Damn, Vause, I wouldn't be able to hide this one from the world."

"Easy, Nichols." Alex grabbed the pie and wine.

Piper took Lorna's stash. "We'll eventually reveal ourselves to the world, but for now, it has to be this way."

"So I heard," Nicky said, following the women into the kitchen. "You two are business rivals, huh?"

"It smells good in here," Lorna offered.

"We are, but we prefer not to talk about work when we're together." The blonde set the pie on the only open surface in the kitchen: on top of the refrigerator.

Lorna gave her companion a look. "Don't be rude, Nicky."

Nicky put her hands up. "I wasn't being rude, I just wanted to make sure I understood the situation." She tossed a baby carrot into her mouth. "Let's get this party started."

Piper assigned Nicky to finish spreading the carrots and crackers around the walnut & pesto dip and asked Lorna to open a bottle of Prosecco.

The women made small talk as the blonde checked the turkey and Alex ensured everyone had a full glass of Prosecco (sparkling apple cider for Nicky). Piper was fascinated by the wild-haired woman's story and found herself relating to Nicky's upbringing. She shared her own childhood, well, some of it, with the other women, and she could sense Nicky warming up to her. Lorna was a delight from the second she walked in. Her thick, Brooklyn accent was comical at times, but Piper found her endearing.

The bird was fully cooked by seven o'clock, so the women dove into their food shortly after. Alex proposed a toast to new traditions, and Piper smiled bashfully at the insinuation that they'd be together long enough for traditions to become _old_.

Both Lorna and Nicky couldn't get enough of the turkey & stuffing, and Alex commented on the flavorful orange-spiced cranberries. The blonde was overjoyed at the success of every dish except for the overcooked green beans. She'd tried toasting the almonds on top, but those got a little burnt and added an acrid flavor to the dish.

When they were finished, Alex poured everyone a glass of Port. Instead of sitting at the other end of the table, she pulled her chair next to her lover and threw an arm around Piper's shoulders. Alex kissed her on the temple and raised her glass. "This whole thing wouldn't have been possible without Piper's tenaciousness…and maybe a little OCD." Everyone laughed, but Piper elbowed her in the ribs. "Thank you, babe, for making this day special." She kissed the blonde more properly on the lips.

"Here, here!" Lorna said with her glass raised high.

Nicky whistled loudly, and then sipped her sparkling cider.

Lorna insisted that she and Nicky clean up while Piper and Alex got off of their feet. The blonde protested at first, but ultimately gave in when Nicky pushed her towards the sofa and literally sat on her with a stern, "Don't fucking move. You got it?"

The blonde tossed her head back against the sofa and closed her eyes as she took a few deep breaths. While her lids were still shut, she felt someone take off her shoes and begin to massage her feet. She could feel a smirk forming on her face. "That feels _really_ good, Alex."

"You deserve it."

She opened her eyes to see the brunette sitting on the coffee table with a wide grin.

"I can't believe we cooked a fucking Thanksgiving feast," Alex chuckled.

"I know." Piper let out a tender laugh. "I couldn't have done it without you."

She swatted the air. "Don't be ridiculous—I chopped a few ingredients and washed dishes along the way, but you were the chef in the house."

"My mother would never believe this without seeing it with her own eyes," she snorted.

A loud clank came from the kitchen. "Don't worry; we got it!" Nicky yelled.

Both women ended up helping with the clean-up process—Alex with drying and putting away dishes, and Piper, storing leftovers in Ziploc bags and Tupperware. When that was finished, Lorna cut the pies, dishing out a small slice of pumpkin and pecan to each guest. They ate dessert on the sofa and arm chairs while watching _Say Anything_ on network television.

All four women fell asleep, Piper with her head on Alex's shoulder; Nicky with her head cocked back and mouth wide open; and Lorna curled into a ball in a side chair.

Nicky was the first to wake. She cleared her throat as she stood and stretched. "It's time for us to hit the road."

Lorna rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Going on 10 o'clock," Alex remarked after checking her watch.

Piper stretched, wiped the drool that she was convinced had dripped onto her lover's shoulder, and then stood. "You have to take some leftovers."

The blonde shoved several containers of food into a grocery bag, and then met the crew at the front door. The women exchanged hugs and _it-was-nice-to-meet-you's_ before the guests left.

"Finally," Alex sighed.

"They're a lot of fun." She wrapped her arms around the brunette's waist. "Are you ready for bed?"

"Am I ever."

Alex blew out the candles in the kitchen and living room before joining Piper in bed. "Today was really special, Piper." She kissed her nose.

"It was." She turned her head to place a proper kiss on the brunette's mouth. "Sleep well."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Author's Notes: For time's sake, I needed to jump ahead a few months in this chapter, but that should not detract from the storyline. Also, I realize that this is a short chapter, but it is a pivotal one. I hope to post another one later this afternoon. For those of you who want to know how long the story continue, it is 14 chapters plus an Epilogue. Thanks to all of you who have left a review so far. Glad you're enjoying this story.

* * *

The women were not able to spend Christmas together as Piper had promised her brother that she'd spend a week with him and his girlfriend in a yurt in Vermont.

The months of January and February went by in a wintery flash, and by the time March rolled around, Alex and Piper were squarely in a relationship. The blonde spent at least three nights a week at her lover's apartment, but it wasn't enough. Keeping their relationship secret was proving to be quite difficult when they wanted to spend every waking minute together. The women rarely discussed work, and each company seemed to win accounts one after the other.

Alex had a plan that she was eager to talk to Gloria about that would take Belle in a slightly different direction, but she still had quite a bit of market research to do before presenting her findings to the CEO.

"Hey, babe," the brunette announced over her shoulder on a rainy late-March evening. Her feet were kicked up on the coffee table, laptop open on her thighs. "You're home late."

Piper closed the front door, dropped her tote bag on the ground and ambled over to the sofa while unzipping her boots. "Tell me about it."

Alex craned her neck, meeting Piper for a kiss. "Off-site meetings or just regular work stuff?"

"A little of both." The blonde removed her lover's computer from her lap and set it on the coffee table. She sat on Alex's lap, throwing her arms around the brunette's neck and burying her nose against her skin. "How do you always smell so good after a long day?"

She felt a chuckle roll in her throat, remembering Piper's response to that question in November. "Our products are designed to last all day."

"I know we don't talk about work." Piper kept her eyes closed and let out a long sigh against the dark haired woman's chest. "But I feel like Poppi is stuck in a rut. We land one new account every three months or so, and it comes with no commitment beyond whatever season we're pushing."

Alex rubbed her lover's back. She had to tread lightly, because this was _definitely_ not something they discussed, and she knew it could lead to a volatile conversation. "It's hard being a small start-up."

The blonde used her hand against Alex's chest to push herself up. "I thought we'd be beyond beating the pavement by this point."

Alex noticed her lover's weary, almost bloodshot eyes. "I don't know if that part ever stops."

"I think I'm just going to go to bed." She kissed the brunette on the forehead. "I have a 7 a.m. breakfast meeting tomorrow."

"Ok." Alex planted a firm kiss on her mouth. "I've got a few things to wrap up here. Sleep well, babe."

They hadn't yet exchanged _I-love-yous_ yet, but Alex was confident that she felt that way about the blonde. She wondered if those three little words would be expressed at some consequential moment or if they'd just tumble out on a random Wednesday night.

* * *

By the end of April, work was still breaking both women's backs and they found themselves neglecting other things in life such as working out and cleaning their homes. Alex vowed to turn that pattern around and actually left work at 5 o'clock one day to clean her flat from top to bottom. She and Piper had been sneezing, presumably due to the amount of dust in the air, and she hadn't swept the hard wood floors in months. She figured a little spring cleaning would go a long way, and that evening, she'd at least get the ball rolling, and Piper promised to pitch in over the weekend.

As she passed the vacuum over the Oriental rug under her four-poster bed, the machine hit Piper's stack of work files that had found a home to the left of 'her' bedside table. Alex turned the vacuum off to steady the pile, and she noticed a document had fallen out of a red folder. There were many times when the brunette could have looked at Piper's work files or spied on her open laptop, but the thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

She lifted the paper and read the title at the top of the page: _Belle Fourth Quarter Report_. There must've been some sort of mistake—maybe Piper had grabbed the document by mistake and shoved it into one of her Poppi folders. Alex leaned against her mattress and quickly scanned the report, noticing lots of numbers and a graph comparing Belle's sales to Poppi's.

She pulled the paper closer to her face and then backed it away as if she didn't trust her own eyes. _I don't believe this_.

Alex's phone rang, startling her and making her feel guilty for looking at her lover's file contents. She quickly shoved the paper back into its red folder and walked into the living room to answer her mobile phone.

"Hey, Al. Are you meeting me at the yoga studio?" Piper asked.

"You need to come home." She felt like she was in a drunken stupor.

"What do you mean? I thought you were on this big kick to start working out again?"

The brunette ran a hand through her hair. "Come home now, Piper."

"Is something wrong?" Piper sounded clearer—like she'd pulled the phone closer to her mouth.

Alex exhaled and shook her head. "Just come home."

"I'm on my way."

The dark haired woman was tempted to sort through her lover's other folders, but she refused to be a snoop. She took the red one into the living room and closed the bedroom door as if _that_ would prevent her from seeking out more information in the pile next to the bed. Alex paced behind the sofa with the Belle report in her hands, going from angry to hurt and back to angry so many times she thought her brain might explode.

Fifteen minutes went by, and Piper finally arrived, dressed in her yoga gear and a little out of breath. "Hey, what's going on?"

"What the fuck is this?" Alex tried keeping her voice measured as she held up the piece of paper, now wrinkled on the edges from her tight grasp.

The blonde took a step forward and glanced at the document, her expression suddenly shifting. "I don't know."

"The hell you don't!" She shouted. "Have you been _spying_ on me? On my work?"

Piper snatched the paper from her lover's hands and examined it more closely. "Where did you find this?"

"Does it matter?" The brunette put her hands on her hips. "Answer my question."

"I have not been spying on you." She gently laid the document on the table and looked Alex in the eye. "Now answer _my_ question: where did you get this?"

She nudged her glasses higher. "I was cleaning, and the vacuum hit the stack of files by your bedside table, and it fell out."

Piper narrowed her eyes. "It didn't occur to you to put it back where you found it?"

"That is _not_ the point! You have data about my company that is not public knowledge!" She turned around and ran a hand down her face, and then quickly spun back around. "Where did you get these figures?"

"We had an agreement, Alex, that work was off limits," Piper responded in a shaky voice. "I have honored that promise and would never go behind your back."

The blonde dashed into the bedroom, and Alex followed. "Then answer my fucking question—where did you get this?"

"Automatically, you point the finger at me?" Piper gathered the thick stack of folders, plopping them onto the bed, and then reached under the bed for a suitcase.

Alex threw her hands in the air. "Who else has access to Belle's records?"

The blonde shoved all of her work files into the suitcase, and then zipped it. She turned to her lover and took a step closer, chin held high. " _Fuck you,_ Alex, for accusing me of stealing information. And _fuck you_ for going through my stuff."

The women stared into each other's eyes for a moment, and then Piper hoisted the suitcase onto the floor, dragging it behind her. She grabbed her purse and strapped her gym bag across her chest without looking back.

"So you're going to leave?" Alex was hot on her trail. "That's how you solve problems?"

The blonde stopped at the door, hand on the knob, and twisted her neck around. "I thought we were better than this." With that, she walked out.

"Fuck!" Alex kicked the wall several times until she left an indent just above the baseboard. She put her hands on her hips and could feel her chest pounding even more than when Piper was in the room.

She opened her computer and sat at the table, waiting for what felt like hours for her laptop to power on. Alex opened several Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, examining each one, and then looked at the Poppi document that Piper had left on the table. Nothing matched. The numbers were close, but they weren't exact.

 _Fuck_.

The brunette walked into the kitchen in search of Advil to stop her pounding headache but reached for the tequila instead. She poured a shot, tossed it back and then poured another. The numbers were off,so if Piper really had snooped in the Belle files, she copied every single number wrong.

Alex took her third tequila shot, immediately feeling sick as it dawned on her.

She walked over to the kitchen sink and retched. Piper _hadn't_ put those statistics together, or if she did, they were estimates—it was simple market research. She hurled again, wishing it was her accusations going down the drain rather than her own vomit.

Once she'd emptied the contents of her stomach, Alex sat up and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. She'd fucked up big time.

* * *

Tears stung her eyes the entire walk to the Subway, but she didn't let any fall until she was seated in a row all to herself. Piper was pissed at herself for letting her emotions show and for letting Alex get the best of her.

They'd finally established a routine, and other than neglecting their bodies (except for copious amounts of sex) and their apartments, everything was going exceedingly well. In fact, the blonde was ready to voice her love for Alex, and those words felt like they could erupt out of her mouth at any moment. Now they felt lodged in her throat like a bone.

Piper wiped her tears angrily off her cheeks. _Fuck her_.

She transferred to a different train and glanced at her phone, noticing two missed calls from Alex and a text message that read, "Please come back." This warranted a new set of tears. Her lover sounded desperate even in a text.

The blonde got off the train and walked back to her apartment without replying to Alex. She needed to think before she acted, something she had never been really good in the past. She took a shower, where a few more tears fell, and then dried herself off as she thought about her next move.

Before she put on more than her underwear, she picked up her phone and hit the green button to make a call.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I need to ask you something."

"Ok?"

"How did you get those fourth quarter numbers for Belle?"

"That's an interesting question at 9:30 at night," Polly replied.

"Please, just tell me." Piper's voice quivered, and she hoped her friend couldn't detect her urgency.

"I looked at Belle's department store accounts—the ones we lost—used the data from each store about how many cases they would've ordered from us, assumed they would have bought the same amount from Belle, and went from there, taking into consideration restocks and surplus." Polly paused, and the blonde pictured her shrugging. "It's just your basic market research."

Piper sighed. "Thanks. I have to go."

"What's going on with you?"

"Nothing!" She insisted vehemently. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She hung up, wondering if Alex had enough time to figure out that it wasn't, in fact, _her_ who had put the data together. Her lover was not the type to grovel, but she had some serious making up to do if they had _any_ chance of continuing their relationship.


	11. Chapter 11

**This chapter is rated M**. Please remember that if you have a question, post it on my tumblr account (saintsavory) or PM me. I can't reply to questions from guests even in a PM through this site.

* * *

Alex called Piper twice and texted her once, hoping that her lover understood the urgency with which she needed to speak to her. The blonde wasn't stupid—she'd probably figured out by that point that Alex didn't have a foot to stand on with her accusations.

The brunette poured herself into work for another two hours before crawling into bed, feeling deflated. She rolled over to Piper's side of the bed and hugged her lover's pillow. She felt her eyes sting as she inhaled Piper's familiar scent.

She tossed and turned the majority of the night, upset with herself for jumping to conclusions and wondering how she'd remedy the situation. She blamed her outburst on her stress level—working 80 plus hours a week wasn't good for her psyche, but in her younger years, even at her worst, she couldn't recall a time when she'd lost her cool like that. Perhaps, she figured, it was because no one she loved had betrayed her like she'd assumed that Piper had.

The next morning, Alex looked at her phone and there were no messages from Piper. She got dressed while listening to her "angry music" channel on Pandora. When Bon Jovi sang about giving love a bad name, she shook her head at herself, and then left the house on a mission to make the workday count and to not dwell on the situation with Piper. She stopped at Starbucks for two vanilla lattes, and hurried to the Belle headquarters.

"Hey, Margeaux," she greeted the French chemist in her small testing lab. "How's it going?"

"Fine, thank you," Margeaux responded.

"Hope you like vanilla lattes." She took a step into the room and handed the cup to her.

"I do, thank you!" She smiled.

"You know those samples you've been giving Kenyon?" Alex asked.

The chemist took a sip of coffee, and then lowered her cup. "I've only given him a few."

"Relax, you're not in trouble." Alex grinned and sat on the edge of the table. "What fragrances are you particularly drawn to? It's clearly not the traditional cucumber melon or rose petal."

"I don't know…" Margeaux removed her latex gloves. "I like earthy scents, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"So I've noticed." Alex pushed up her glasses. "They tend to be scents that both men and women are drawn to, but women who like the whole Bath & Body Works fragrances tend to not buy Belle's products."

"Oh?" She crossed her arms. "I didn't know they were our demographic."

The brunette shifted to face her more fully. "What if they're not? I mean, what if we went for a totally different market?"

Margeaux creased her brows.

"What if we made soaps and lotions exclusively for men?" Alex stood.

"I've never considered that," she replied in a thick French accent. "My fragrances tend to be on a more neutral side to be sure."

"Kenyon loves the ones you've allowed him to sample." The brunette smiled. "Though 'manly' isn't exactly how I'd describe him."

Margeaux covered her mouth as she chuckled.

Alex picked up a vial and sniffed it. "Can you put a few samples together for me this week? It can be in liquid form—I don't need specific products yet."

She opened a cabinet. "I have at least 20 different fragrances that you can sample right now if you'd like."

Alex spent the next two hours, smelling all sorts of earthy and fruity scents and taking notes. She was convinced that her theory from the start—that Belle should market more to men—was a winner. Now, she just needed to find potential buyers so that she could pitch the idea to Gloria.

It wasn't until she smelled a combination of lime, basil and mandarin when she thought about Piper. A few nights ago, they'd made margaritas, and Alex had commented that she'd love to have bottled the way the blonde tasted. She smiled to herself, pulling out her phone to see if her lover had called or texted her, but the only message she had was from Nicky.

She scrolled through the pictures on her phone, stopping at the only two she'd taken of Piper. One was taken in mid-December at a Christmas tree farm. Piper was wearing a red overcoat with the hood loosely covering her head and a cream-colored scarf around her neck. She was staring at a very tall Christmas tree with childlike wonder. The brunette didn't know if Piper realized she'd taken the photograph. Alex smiled at it with fondness.

She'd taken the other picture about a month ago in bed. The blonde had just woken up and a smile was beginning to form on her mouth. The sheets barely covered her breasts, and one arm hung lazily over her head, splayed on the pillow with her fingers curled in. Alex remembered the reason she'd taken that photo was because of the way the light hit her lover's body. The curtains were drawn just enough to allow a stream of sunshine to beam across Piper's face and onto her shoulder, and it was as if Annie Leibowitz had spent hours lining up the shot.

Alex took in a deep breath and locked her phone, shoving it back into her pocket. She had work to do, but she swore to herself that if Piper didn't reach out to her by that night, she would go find the blonde on her own.

* * *

Piper was useless at work that day—her mind was focused on Alex and the spat they'd had the night before. She went through a gamut of emotions—anger, hurt, confusion, frustration, sadness and anxiousness. She tried channeling her feelings into work, but it was no use; by 5 o'clock, she'd spent the entire day doing nothing productive.

When Polly entered her office at the end of the day, Piper realized that she'd been staring at the same image on her computer screen for at least half an hour.

"Something's going on with you." The brunette put her hands on her hips. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Piper snapped to attention when she realized that her business partner was addressing her. She brushed a strand of hair off her forehead and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out—it was as if someone had reached into her neck and yanked out her vocal chords.

The other woman sat in the armchair across from the blonde. "I'm worried about you."

Piper looked at her hands, which she realized were trembling, and flexed them several times as if that would stop the shaking. If she didn't get this off her chest now, she didn't know when it would happen.

"You're right, something _is_ going on, and I haven't told you about it because it scares me…your reaction scares me."

"Unless you sold our business under my nose, there's nothing you can say that would make me react in a way that should _scare_ you." Her friend leaned forward. "What is it, Piper?"

"I've been…" the blonde swallowed hard. "Polly, I've…"

Becca came barreling in with a phone held out in front of her. "Polly, it's your boyfriend. He's been in an accident."

"What?" The brunette stood. "Is he ok?"

She nodded and handed the cordless phone to Polly.

She stood and grabbed it from Becca. "Pete? What's going on? Are you ok?"

Piper couldn't hear Pete's side of the conversation, but she watched her friend put a hand on her chest.

"Observation? Did you break anything? Are you bleeding?"

The blonde stood next to her friend and rubbed her back in slow circles.

"I'll be right there." She hung up and dropped the phone onto the chair that she'd previously occupied.

"Is he alright?" Piper asked, concern imprinted on her face.

"I think so. Some guy rear ended him and they took him to the hospital to be safe." She walked down the hallway, and Piper followed. "He's not bleeding and can walk just fine, but they put him on a stretcher." She entered her office. "I told him to get rid of that fucking car months ago!"

Piper waited at the door. "Do you want me to come with you?"

The brunette put on her jacket and flung her purse over a shoulder. "No. I'll be in touch."

"I'll be thinking of you." She touched her friend's shoulder as she headed out the door.

"Thanks."

Piper leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes, saying an internal prayer of sorts that Polly's boyfriend would be alright. Her eyes shot open when she reflected on the conversation that she and her friend were about to have. The blonde felt her pulse quicken at the confession she was about to make and thanked her lucky stars that she hadn't blurted out the fact that she had been in a relationship with their business rival for nearly six months.

She marched back into her office, closed the door, and plopped into her desk chair, head in her hands. _What the fuck was she thinking_? Piper didn't even know if she and Alex were still a couple after the fight they'd had last night. She looked down at her phone and saw a text from Alex: "You're right: We are better than this. *I* am better than this. Please come over tonight."

The blonde's first reaction was to type that she'd be there in 30 minutes, but she thought better of it. She sat back in her chair and sighed as she stared at Alex's text. Piper thought about her lover's long fingers typing the message on her phone, and her mind immediately floated to _other things_ that Alex had done with those talented fingers.

The blonde packed up her things and headed out of the office, unsure of where she should go—to the hospital to support her best friend or to Alex's apartment to have a tough conversation. She stopped by the corner coffee shop and ordered an iced mocha, pulling out her phone as she waited for the barista to make her drink. Once again, she stared at Alex's text until the barista called her name.

Piper didn't delay her response to make the brunette squirm; she honestly didn't know how to proceed. Was going to Alex's apartment that night a good idea? Did she need more time to cool down? The last thing she wanted was a screaming match. Alex hadn't apologized in her text, but she'd come close to it.

She sat on a bench two blocks from her apartment as the sun was about to set and typed two messages, erasing them both before hitting send. Piper closed her eyes and thought about an appropriate response, cursing herself for overthinking what would amount to a more eloquent way of saying, "Ok."

And she sat.

And sat.

And sat.

It was as if her fingers wouldn't allow a response—one part of her body telling another, _don't do this_. So she mechanically boarded the Subway on the line that happened to arrive first.

* * *

It had been 24 hours since their argument, and Piper hadn't replied to her texts. Alex was upset with herself more than she was with Piper. She didn't peg the blonde as immature, though she wondered if Piper was still stewing over the incident.

Alex entered her apartment, kicked off her shoes and used the remote control on her iPod speaker to play Pandora. The "angry music" station that she'd listened to that morning rang through the small speaker, but she wasn't angry right then, so she switched to "Mellow Weekday Music," a preset Pandora channel.

She shed her sweater as she walked into the kitchen, and then pulled an Amstel Light out of the fridge. She leaned against the kitchen counter, cracking her neck in hopes of relieving the stress that seemed to live there. Boz Scaggs belted out, " _Love, look what you've done to me_ ," and Alex closed her eyes, huffing at the suitable line for her situation.

She took a long drag from the bottle, and as she swallowed the golden liquid, a knock on the door startled her.

The brunette pushed away from the counter and walked towards the entryway. "Who is it?"

"It's me." Alex hardly recognized her lover's raspy voice.

She unlocked the door and flung it open to see a despondent looking blonde on her doorstep.

"Hi." Alex cursed herself for the amount of _desperation_ she could hear in her own one-syllable greeting. She quickly recovered, "Why didn't you use your key?"

Piper folded her arms and tilted her head, staring at Alex as if to say, _really_? The dark haired woman stepped aside, hoping that her lover would take that as an indication to come inside. _Holding Back the Years_ emanatedfrom the speaker, and as if she just needed something to keep her occupied, Alex fiddled with the remote and lowered the volume.

"Can I get you something to drink?" the brunette tried.

"I'm here so you can explain what the fuck happened yesterday," Piper had been heading towards the kitchen, but stopped and turned to face her lover. "I'm going to allow you to do that without interruption, Alex, and then I get to say my part."

She'd never witnessed this _demanding,_ almost ruthless, side of Piper and wondered for a moment if this was one reason why Poppi was so successful.

"Seems fair."

The blonde made her way into the kitchen and pulled out a beer, which for some reason, made Alex smile. Maybe it was the familiarity that Piper had with the place she'd practically lived in for the past six months, or maybe it was that Alex knew her lover would want an alcoholic beverage to tackle such a conversation. Regardless, it set the brunette at ease at a time when she was particularly anxious.

"Like I told you last night, the way I found the document was pure accident." Alex sat on the lip of the sofa, prepared to plead her case. "I was cleaning, and the vacuum hit the stack of files by the bedside table, and the only piece of paper that fell out had my company's name on it." She shrugged. "I glanced at it instinctively."

Piper, who'd removed her sweater on the way in, stood with her back against the decorative molding next to the kitchen, feet crossed at the ankles, beer dangling between her index and middle fingers. If it weren't for the serious topic at hand, Alex would have ravaged her, what with her tight green dress that hit around mid-thigh and her heeled, brown ankle boots.

She took a long swig of beer, hoping that Piper couldn't see the hunger in her eyes. They needed to get through a difficult conversation before sex could enter the picture.

"I hadn't even looked at the numbers when I reacted the way I did—all I knew was that you had something in your possession that appeared to contain proprietary information."

The blonde cleared her throat and looked at the ground but kept silent.

"We've been together for half a year, and I've never had any reason to mistrust you." She set her longneck on the coffee table. "So when I saw Belle's name at the top of the page…" Alex shook her head. "I panicked."

 _Ain't No Sunshine_ came on, and the brunette looked at the speaker on the bookshelf, and then back at Piper, wordlessly asking if she should turn off what was quickly becoming the soundtrack to their tête-à-tête.

Piper, who clearly wasn't affected by the music, clenched her jaw and uncrossed her feet. She took a drag from her bottle and looked away.

"It wasn't until you left when I checked the numbers against our actual fourth quarter figures." Alex ran her hands up and down her thighs. "And that's when I realized that they were just estimates."

The blonde swallowed hard.

"I accused you of something you'd never do." Alex stood and could feel the tension radiating off of her body. "I jumped to conclusions, Piper, and I am very, _very_ sorry."

Piper pushed herself off the wall and drained her beer. She went into the kitchen and was gone for several minutes until the familiar introduction to Sting's _Fragile_ came on. Alex didn't know whether to follow her or to stay put, so she stayed planted where she was, hoping that her lover hadn't already given up on her.

The blonde returned with a glass of Bourbon. "When have I ever given you reason to doubt me?"

She raised her brows. "Never."

"Then why would you think I'd spy on your company? After all this time, I'd pick the last, what, week or two to figure out Belle's numbers?" She shrugged. "It doesn't make sense."

"I wasn't thinking clearly, and…"

Piper held up her hand. "You had your time to talk, Alex." It was clear from the set of her jaw that Piper was on a mission. If Alex wasn't on the receiving end of her lover's convictions, she'd love to have witnessed this side of the other woman from afar.

"How do you think it felt to come into this apartment we've been sharing, pretty much _our_ home, and face accusations about stealing company secrets?" She lifted her eyebrows. "You didn't even give me the chance to explain before you jumped down my fucking throat!"

The brunette shoved her hands in her back pockets and ran her socked toe through a scratch on the hardwood floor.

"What's killing me is that you didn't trust me enough to know I wouldn't do such a thing," she said in an unstable voice. "What we have together is _far more important_ to me than winning an account or beating you in some business game."

Alex chanced a look at her lover, knowing her own expression was pained. She saw the same hurt and anguish in Piper's eyes.

"I am _so_ sorry, Piper." She didn't care that her voice quivered.

The blonde kept eye contact for a beat and then looked away. She took another sip of Bourbon and walked towards the table, setting her glass down, and then took a few steps back to the living room, this time standing a little closer to her lover. Alex could sense Piper's countenance changing as if she was coming around to accepting her apology. Still, both women were incredibly tense.

Another song rang through the speaker, causing the tension to erase on Alex's face as a smirk began to surface. "Is this the love song from the original _Superman_?"

The most inelegant snort surfaced from deep within Piper's throat, and it was the most adorable sound Alex'd ever heard.

"When you look at me, quivering, like a little girl, shivering, you could see right through me," Alex sang, grin still firmly in place.

Piper couldn't seem to control the corners of her mouth from turning up.

The brunette chanced a step closer. "Can you read my mind?" She sang a little louder, this time, hoping that her lover _could_ actually read her incredibly sorry (and incredibly horny) mind.

She hadn't seen a smile like Piper's in months; it was like the sun coming out after a dark, frigid winter. Alex reached a hand out to touch her lover's arm, and she didn't back away, so she stepped into Piper's personal space.

"Do you think I have a career in music?" She bent down to place a tiny kiss along the column of her lover's neck.

Alex was rewarded with another snort that vibrated her lips.

Piper placed her hand tentatively on Alex's elbow. "Hardly."

The brunette pulled back and looked at her lover with mock hurt. "You don't think I can sing? Really?"

Piper took a half-step closer and flung her arms around Alex's neck.

She squeezed the blonde as tightly as she could, relishing in her long arms around her. "It will _never_ happen again," she whispered.

Alex could feel her lover nod in the crook of her neck.

The familiar intro to Phil Collins' _Take Me Home_ wafted through the speaker as Alex kissed the blonde's head, then her temple, and finally her cheek. She pulled back, both hands cradling Piper's head, and stared into her lover's eyes.

Piper was the one to close the gap between them, crashing her mouth against Alex's in a fierce, desperate, _wanting_ kiss.

 _I've got no far horizons._

 _I don't wish upon a star._

Despite the searing kiss, Alex couldn't help but reflect upon those lyrics. When she was a child, any time she'd make a wish, her mom would tell her, " _If wishing only made it so, kid._ " By the age of 10, she'd stopped wishing on stars and started making things happen for herself. Although the brunette had sworn off wishing, if she had one that night, it was coming true.

Alex smiled against her lover's lips, then slipped her tongue inside.

It didn't take long for the women to rid each other of their clothing as Alex pushed Piper backwards towards the bedroom. The blonde fell gracelessly onto the bed, causing the women to break their urgency for a moment and smile. Alex kissed her way down Piper's body, unhooking her bra along the way. She reached the juncture between her legs and began licking her through the thin fabric of her royal blue underwear. The blonde's back arched as her hands reached for her lover's head.

Alex tugged the fabric away as she plunged her tongue inside. Piper moaned and writhed, silently begging for more contact. The brunette rubbed Piper's nipple between her thumb and index finger, and then smoothed it with her palm. That was all it took before a powerful orgasm ripped through Piper's body. A litany of _Alex's_ rang through the air.

The brunette placed a kiss on her lover's inner thigh before crawling up her body and kissing her properly on the mouth.

Piper pulled back, caressing Alex's cheek, and looked at her with a solemn expression.

"What's wrong?" The dark haired woman asked, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of her way.

Piper looked into her eyes as if reading pages of a book. "I love you."

A wave of emotion crossed Alex's face—her head jutted back slightly and she could feel the prickling of tears in her eyes. A small smile formed on her lips, and she bent down to place a chaste kiss on her lover's mouth.

"Besides my mom, I don't think anyone has ever said that to me," she replied in a wondrous, somewhat shaky voice.

Piper smiled and rubbed her chin with the pad of her thumb.

"I love you, too." Alex punctuated the statement with raised brows. "It's not just because you said it; I've been thinking about it for a while."

"You have?"

She nodded.

The blonde bit her lower lip. "So have I."

"So we're in love?" Alex felt her face become a bit warm.

Piper kissed her cheek. "I don't think I've ever seen you blush."

The women smiled until they laughed, rolling over in a deep embrace, refusing to let go.

* * *

The next morning, Piper awoke to Alex's head between her legs.

"That's one way to wake a woman up," she said, lifting her head to enjoy the view.

The brunette's hand immediately flew to Piper's toned stomach. "You know I love when you flex your abs, babe." She stopped her ministrations on the blonde's center and moved up to ravage her stomach. "Stay flexed."

Piper did as she was told, using her forearms to hold herself up and keep her muscles tight. She watched her lover bathe her midsection with her mouth as her hands followed, rippling over the blonde's abdomen.

"So fucking hot," Alex breathed.

Piper pulled her lover up by the arms. "I want your mouth up here."

"Yeah?" The brunette smiled.

"Yes." Piper devoured the other woman's lips, running her hands through thick, black hair.

They made out for another 20 minutes, and just as Piper was about to return the orgasmic favor, she heard her phone ringing in the other room.

"I have to get that," Piper declared in between kisses. She put one leg on the ground, but Alex was making it very difficult for her to leave the bed. "Seriously, Al. I have to get my phone." She kissed the brunette one last time hard on the lips before rushing into the living room, tossing on a white t-shirt along the way.

"Polly, hi." She scratched her head. "How's Pete?"

"Didn't you read my text last night?"

"My phone battery died last night," she lied. "I plugged it in before I went to bed, but I'm just waking up, so no, I haven't read it."

"Pete's ok—whiplash and a nasty bruise on his chest and shoulder from the seatbelt."

"It could've been a lot worse." Piper was glad she was able to recover from her little lie. "Are you going to the office this morning?"

"Yeah, but I'll be a little late. See you around 10," Polly replied.

"Please tell Pete to get well soon for me." She hung up and looked at the time on her iPhone: 7:48 a.m.

"Everything ok?" Alex called from the bedroom.

The blonde entered the room and watched a naked Alex strip the bed.

"What are you doing?" she pouted.

"I'm pretty sure these sheets are soiled." The brunette twisted her head around. "You were really wet last night."

"Did I make a spot?" Piper draped her arms around her lover's waist, resting her chin on her shoulder.

"You did." Alex turned in her arms, smirking, and placed a kiss on her jawline.

She tilted her head to the side, giving the brunette room to work. "I thought you liked my lady juice?"

"I love the way you taste, babe, but I guess you were just too horny last night." Alex removed Piper's t-shirt, and her hands immediately covered her perky breasts.

The blonde put a hand against her lover's chest. " _I_ was the horny one?"

She shrugged, making her way down the blonde's agile body with her hands and lips.

"You were equally horny, Alex." She recognized the thick _need_ in her voice, and she knew Alex had her exactly where she wanted her.

The brunette sat on the Oriental rug and leaned her back against the footboard and boxspring. She turned Piper around by the thighs and extended her neck to nip at the blonde's center.

"Ungh, Alex." She screwed her eyes shut tight and thought she was seeing stars. "Right there…mmm."

Alex splayed her hands on Piper's ass as the blonde bucked into her face, the brunette's tongue darting out to circle her clit, and then traced a line from her opening to the sensitive nub and back again.

Piper reached down to hold the back of Alex's head in place while she rocked her hips back and forth. "I'm going to cum in your face."

"Mmm, do it," she mumbled against her pussy.

With that, Piper released into Alex's mouth, screaming to God and any other deity who might be listening. The orgasm lasted almost a full minute, and when it was over, Piper released her grip on the other woman's head and backed away. _Fuck_.

She collapsed onto Alex's lap, eyes closed at first, and then opened her lids to see her lover's glistening chin. Piper grabbed the brunette's chin, bringing it closer and alternated between kissing Alex's mouth and licking her chin.

"I want to record us having sex," Alex said between kisses.

"Like, make a video?"

"Mmm hmm." She rubbed the blonde's bare back. "Would you be open to that?"

Piper pulled back and searched her lover's face. "Yeah, I guess."

"I would imagine we look hot together, but I want to see for myself." She kissed the side of the blonde's mouth.

"Ok." Piper kissed her again and began playing with Alex's supple breasts.

She removed the blonde's hand. "As much as I would love for you to get me off, babe, I have to be at work in, like, 45 minutes."

"Can't you go in late?" Piper nipped at her collarbone.

"Not today," she sighed. "Wish I could, but we can continue this tonight."

"Promise?"

Alex kissed her nose. "Yeah, promise." She stood and offered a hand to help Piper to her feet, warning her not to enter the bathroom while she showered, because she _seriously_ couldn't be late that morning.

Piper had a difficult time staying out, knowing that her lover was rubbing a bar of soap over her wet, slippery, naked body, but she forced herself to leave the room to make a pot of coffee and some breakfast for Alex to take on the go.

Thirty minutes later, the brunette entered the kitchen with a damp head. She wore a pair of brown, snake-print skinny pants and a black short sleeved blouse. "Mmm, smells good in here."

Piper tore a piece of foil and put the box back into the cabinet. (She had to occupy her hands or else she'd run them up and down Alex's long legs.) "I made you a breakfast sandwich. Coffee's already in your thermos."

"I'm touched." Alex gave her a tender smile. "Thank you, Pipes."

She reached up to kiss her. "You're welcome."

"Thank you for accepting my apology." The brunette took both of Piper's hands in hers. "I will never doubt you again."

The blonde downcast her eyes, but Alex's hand went right to her chin, forcing Piper to look at her. "I love you."

Piper smiled and felt a giggle roll in her throat. "I love you."

They kissed for a few seconds, and then Alex announced her urgency to get to work.

* * *

A lot happened in this longer than usual chapter. Please let me know your thoughts.


	12. Chapter 12

By the beginning of summer, Belle's sales were down 10% and Gloria had expressed her concern about their market share. She agreed to give the brunette carte blanche, so Alex had conducted five focus groups, arranged several meetings with potential clients, and had worked with Margeaux on samples that were ready to be distributed.

By the end of June, she'd gotten the best news she could've hoped for and couldn't wait to tell the CEO.

"Tell me you're coming here with good news." Gloria plopped down in her desk chair.

"I am." She sat across from her boss with a smile. "We have a major new client: Brooks Brothers."

The CEO creased her forehead. "Aren't they primarily a men's store?"

"Brooks Brothers caters to men and women." She adjusted her glasses. "The focus groups that I piloted were very clear about our products—they appeal to _men_ more than women. The reason women buy our soaps and lotions is either as a gift, like a housewarming present, or to use in a guest bathroom in their homes." Alex pursed her lips. "Women don't buy Belle products for themselves."

Gloria held a pen between both of her index fingers. "Go on."

"We've been chasing the wrong demographic, well, sort of…" she scooted forward in her chair. "Women will still buy Belle for the reasons I mentioned, but we need to market to the people who would use our soaps and lotions daily: men." She shrugged. "Look at Kenyon—he's been using samples from Margeaux since he started here. Hell, he even gives samples to his friends who swear by the long-lasting softness of their hands and arms."

"Kenyon is gayer than gay," Gloria huffed. "Are you saying you want to market to homosexual men?"

"Not _just_ them, but they're part of the mix." The brunette put her hands on the curve of the wooden armrests. "I had Margeaux make 300 mini-bars of soap. The graphic design firm spent less than an hour making simple packaging with just a name and a special e-mail address on the label."

"Who did you give 300 bars of soap to? What the hell did that cost? And what do you mean, 'a name' on the label?" Gloria asked in a raised voice.

"I'm getting there." She tossed her hair over one shoulder. "I set up meetings with 12 independent stores and several men's departments within a larger complex, like Saks and Barney's. One company bit hard: Brooks Brothers."

Gloria's eyebrows shot up.

"I made a deal with their lead sales guy, Norman Willis, that if he gave away a mini-bar of soap to each customer who made a transaction at their Madison Avenue store and asked them to try the product, we'd allow them to exclusively sell our soaps and lotions nationwide with a 10% discount on orders placed through the end of the year."

"I'm listening…" The CEO leaned forward.

Alex grinned. "That special e-mail address printed on the soap came directly to my Inbox. As of this morning, I've received 236 e-mails."

"That's solid." Gloria grinned. "But what's this about 'a name' you used on our label?"

This was the part that Alex thought might cause the biggest stir. "Men aren't going to buy a product called, Belle," she began. "So I asked the designer to call it something different, _Beau_."

"Beau?" The CEO creased her brows.

"It's the masculine form of Belle in French," she replied.

"Huh." Gloria nodded. "That has a nice ring to it: _Beau_."

Alex breathed easier. "It was a hit with the focus groups, too."

She tapped her pen against a pad of paper. "Walk me through the numbers."

Alex spent the rest of the day going over data points and fragrance samples, and Gloria insisted on bringing Kenyon and Margeaux into the mix. Of course, Kenyon was overjoyed at the possible new direction Belle was headed and asked if he could take a bigger role in the company. (That was something the brunette decided to leave between Gloria and the effeminate man, but she _did_ support the idea.)

The brunette texted Piper at the end of the day and asked her to meet for a celebratory sushi dinner at Inakaya. Piper questioned what they were celebrating, but Alex kept her guessing and couldn't wait to break the news to her lover.

* * *

Piper took the Subway to Inakaya, appreciating the fact that Alex had at least chosen a place close to home. She'd had a particularly tough week with meetings running from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. almost every night. If Alex was hoping to celebrate a Belle sales victory, the blonde was worried she wouldn't be up for such merriment.

It wasn't that Piper didn't want her lover to be successful, but when Belle performed well in the marketplace, that typically meant that Poppi suffered. They still didn't discuss work much when they were together, but sometimes the conversation drifted close to treacherous territory.

When the blonde arrived at Inakaya, Alex was already seated at a table with a bottle of Ginban Banshu Sake in front of her.

"Hey, babe." The brunette stood and kissed her on the cheek, and then eyed her up and down. "You look gorgeous."

Piper had on an airy, light blue dress, and her hair was pulled back into a messy bun. When she'd left her apartment that morning, she felt _anything but_ gorgeous. Alex had a way of making her feel beautiful no matter if she was wearing an evening gown or pajamas with holes in them.

"Thanks."

Piper hadn't spent the night at Alex's apartment in two days due to the late nights and early mornings, and she was surprised at how refreshing it was to see her lover. "So do you."

Alex wore tight, black jeans and a white, zip tunic that tied loosely at the waist with a green ribbon. For a moment, Piper thought about asking her lover if they could skip the sushi and dive into the sex, but then she remembered that Alex had something she wanted to celebrate.

"How was your day?" Alex poured each of them a glass of cold Sake.

The blonde rubbed her face. "I can't tell you how glad I am that it's Friday."

"TGIF!" She clinked her glass against Piper's.

She took a sip, and then lowered the glass. "So what's the big news?"

The server came by to take their order, creating even more suspense.

Alex looked like a little girl about to tell her mom that she got straight As. "I'm 90% certain that Belle is going to completely rebrand."

Piper wrinkled her eyebrows. "Ok…"

"Instead of marketing to woman, we're going to shift gears entirely and make _men_ our target demographic." Her smile was still resolutely in place.

"Really?" This time, the blonde's brows shot up. "How? Why?"

Alex explained the concept throughout the duration of their appetizer round of Miso soup, Spicy Tuna Rolls and Yellowtail Carpaccio. Piper allowed her to talk and thoroughly enjoyed watching the brunette's animations.

The blonde grabbed her hand across the table. "This is huge!"

"It's not just a big deal for _me_." Alex released her hand and resumed her work with chopsticks, picking up a piece of tuna and dropping it into her mouth. "It's big for _us_."

Piper covered her mouth with one hand while she chewed the carpaccio and motioned with the other for Alex to continue.

The brunette dabbed her lips with a napkin. "If we get completely out of the women's market, Belle and Poppi won't be competitors, and we'll be free to tell people—even the people we work with—that we're a couple."

From the moment Alex mentioned Belle's shift in strategy, Piper recognized what the beneficial outcome would be, but she wanted to watch her lover explain it and was happy that she did.

"That would be amazing," the blonde replied. Once again, she reached for her lover, this time pulling her hand and placing several kisses on her knuckles. "I am _so_ proud of you, Al."

Alex's blush was something to behold. Just as she was about to release the brunette's hand, Piper heard her name being called from behind.

"Piper?"

The blonde swung her head around to see Polly and Pete being seated at a nearby booth.

 _Fuck_ , _fuck_ , _fuck_.

Just _fuck_.

Alex immediately released her lover's hand and Piper could feel all eyes on her.

"Polly, I…"

"What the fuck is going on?" Her friend approached the table.

"I can explain," the blonde began. "Alex and I…" She placed her trembling hands on the table. "Alex is…"

"Are you _fucking_ our business rival?" Polly yelled.

Piper clenched her jaw as she sensed everyone within earshot staring at them. She shut her eyes for a moment to try to come up with a response that would be honest but not cause more expletives to be hurled in her direction.

"No," she said quietly, opening her eyes and looking up at Polly. "I mean, _yes_ , we're…" she trailed.

"Fucking," Alex offered.

Piper whipped her around and shot daggers at Alex.

"I don't believe this." Polly put her hands on her hips.

"I can explain," she tried again. "Alex and I aren't just…having sex; we're in a relationship."

"Although the sex is fantastic," the brunette offered.

Once again, Piper glared at the woman sitting across from her.

Polly's eyes looked like Wile E. Coyote when he realized that the anvil he'd arranged to drop on the Roadrunner was actually going to hit _him_ on the head.

"A _relationship_? As in you're dating?" She threw her hands in the air. "When did this little development occur?"

Piper sucked in her lips and shut her eyes again, mentally preparing for her business partner's reaction when she shared the news. "Almost eight months."

Polly looked too stunned to speak. She twirled halfway around, and then faced her friend again, putting her fingertips on the edge of the table, glancing between the two women.

"Maybe you two should take this someplace else," Alex said in a more serious tone, breaking the silence.

"Maybe you should shut the fuck up!" Polly replied.

"Enough!" The blonde stood. "You don't get to talk to her like that!" She grabbed Polly's arm. "Let's discuss this in private. You can yell at me all you want." Piper turned to her lover. "Can we go to your place?"

Alex put her hand on Piper's elbow. "Of course."

"I am not going to Belle's _headquarters_!"

"It's not Belle's headquarters—it's my girlfriend's apartment, where I've been practically living since November."

Polly shook her head and let out a huff. "This just keeps getting better."

"Excuse me, we are getting complaints from other diners," the Inakaya manager said in a Japanese accent as he approached the table. "I am going to have to ask you to leave."

Piper was mortified. "I'm sorry about this," she whispered to her lover.

"No apology necessary." The brunette glanced at Polly. "At least not from you."

"I'll call you later." Piper skimmed the back of her lover's hand with her fingertips.

Polly was already at the door, and Piper joined her as the women headed out of the expensive restaurant.

* * *

"Wow."

"You can say that again," Alex sighed.

"Care to explain what just happened?" The man stepped closer to the table. "I'm Pete, by the way."

"Alex." She extended her hand to shake his. "But I'm guessing you figured that out."

"That's about the only thing I figured out," he chuckled. "That and the fact that you work for a similar company to Poppi."

Just then, the server delivered a plate of Omakase.

"Mind if I join you?" Pete asked. "I'm a bit hungry."

Alex couldn't fight the surprised smirk that appeared. "Sure. Why not?"

The man scooted into the booth, and Alex requested a new glass from the server.

"Do you drink plum wine?" he asked before the server disappeared.

"Yeah."

"And a bottle of Sawanotsuru Ume-shu, please," Pete requested. "Might as well get drunk while the other two battle it out."

She let out a small laugh.

Alex explained everything that she deemed appropriate to Pete as they ate the Omakase and drank a bottle of plum wine. She was already full, but Pete insisted that they order two Sapporo draughts to cap off the meal. Alex checked her phone several times, but her lover hadn't called or texted. She considered going to her apartment to check on the women, but thought better of it after being the victim of Polly's verbal lynching an hour ago.

"So let me get this straight," Pete began. "You and Piper have been together for half a year, under Polly's nose, and now with the shift in Belle's audience, you might not even have a reason to worry that your companies will compete?"

"That's about the size of it." She set her glass down. "Piper and I were here to celebrate that we'd finally be able to come out as a couple within the next few months."

"That's a stinker," he replied in his thick Australian accent.

They were silent for a moment as the bill came and Alex threw her credit card in the billfold.

"Can I ask you a more personal question?" Pete scratched his chin. "How exactly do women have sex?"

Alex spit out a spray of beer and quickly raised her hand to her mouth so that she could swallow the rest.

"I mean, I know there's oral sex and fingers," he continued, chuckling at his companion's reaction.

"What else would there be?" Alex laughed, tipsy enough to find the Australian's humor funny. "We don't have a strap-on, if that's what you're asking."

He drained his beer. "I would think that would defeat the purpose. I mean, if you want a dick inside you, why wouldn't you just be with a man with a real penis?"

Alex was sober enough not to get into the merits of a strap-on with her lover's business partner's boyfriend. Just thinking about how Pete and her were connected was enough to warrant a headache.

"If you're curious, you should spend some time on the Internet." She signed the receipt, a smile still touching her lips. "But I wouldn't let your girlfriend catch you. No telling how she might react."

"Polly's alright," he said with the most sober look she'd seen all evening. "She doesn't normally blow up like that. Don't get me wrong, when she gets mad, she yells, but it had to be something pretty fucking bad for her to explode the way she did."

"I just hope Piper's ok," Alex exhaled, looking at her watch. It had been an hour and a half since the women left. "I should get going. It was nice to meet you."

They scooted out of the booth, and Pete hugged the brunette, taking her by surprise.

"It was lovely meeting you." He patted her shoulders. "I'll put in a good word with Polly. She'll come around."

Alex tilted her head. "Thank you."

They walked out of the restaurant, and Alex said her goodbyes as she headed to her apartment to make sure the women were still alive.

* * *

They'd been at each other's throats for 90 minutes, and Piper was emotionally drained. Her best friend was finally coming around to comprehend that Piper wasn't going to budge with her relationship status.

"Don't put me in a situation where I have to choose between my job and the woman I love," she practically begged.

"You _love_ her?" Polly's eyebrows hung out near her hairline.

The women had alternated between sitting and standing for the duration of their argument, and Piper had spent the majority of the time on her feet.

"We've been together for eight months," she said as if a resounding _YES_ was understood. "Of course I love her!"

Polly put her head in her hands. "I don't understand how you could've kept this from me."

"Is that what you're most upset about?" Piper narrowed her eyes. "That I didn't tell you?"

"That is one among many things that upsets me, yes," she replied tersely.

They'd already gone through the ridiculous, _what if Alex stole company secrets?_ questioning, and the blonde dared not mention her and Alex's sole fight about _that_ issue a few months earlier.

"Would your reaction have been any different if I'd told you months ago?" The blonde shrugged doubting that to be the case.

"I sure as hell wouldn't have yelled at you in a restaurant!" Polly stood. "How long were you going to keep this from me?"

"I wanted _desperately_ to tell you," the blonde admitted. "I wanted my best friend to celebrate this…this _love_ that I found, but I knew it was impossible given our current situation."

Polly glared at her. "That wasn't my question."

She put her hands on her hips. "I would've kept it from you until I felt like it was safe—probably another two or three months."

The brunette nodded. "Good to know where your loyalty lies."

"I am _loyal_ to our company, Polly. I am _loyal_ to you as a friend." Piper shook her head. "Keeping this relationship from you isn't a measure of loyalty." She stood in front of the other woman and tried to look her in the eyes, but the brunette refused to meet them. "Alex has never snooped or spied or asked me questions that would lead her to insider knowledge about Poppi." She grabbed her friend by the wrist. "She _hasn't_. She _wouldn't_."

Polly squinted. "How do you know that?"

" _Because I trust her_ ," Piper whispered. "That's all I've got, Pol." She released her friend's arm and dropped onto the sofa with an extended sigh.

Polly paced for a minute, and then sat next to the blonde. "You really love her?"

She turned her head, still resting on the back of the sofa, to look at her companion with tired eyes. " _Yes_." It came out almost as an apology, and Piper wanted to correct her tone, but a key in the door startled them. The blonde jumped to her feet as Alex appeared in the doorway.

"Looks like I don't need a body bag," the dark haired woman announced with a slight grin as she cautiously stepped inside.

Polly got up. "I was just leaving."

"You don't have to go on my account," Alex replied, shutting the door. "I can just grab my things, and…"

"Don't be ridiculous, Alex," Piper said, walking over to her. "There's nothing more to say here."

The lovers casually put an arm around each other as a sort of greeting, but quickly let go.

Alex threw her keys on the table. "Anything I can do to smooth the waters?"

"No," Polly announced, draping her purse over her shoulder and walking towards the door.

The blonde turned to Alex. "She's just going to need some time to process everything."

"I get that." Alex shoved her glasses on top of her head. "By the way, Pete's a nice guy. He seriously lacks an understanding of same-sex couples, but he seems like a good person."

Polly appeared taken aback. She glanced at Alex for a split second, and then turned to her friend. "This _is_ going to take some time, Piper, and I don't apologize for that."

The blonde chanced a hug and was relieved when her friend's arms encircled her. "I understand."

Polly released her, and then scowled at Alex. "The jury is still out on you."

The taller woman gave her a closed lip smile but didn't respond.

"Good night, Piper. See you on Monday."

The blonde raised her hand and waved. "Night."

Once the door was shut, Piper all but collapsed in her lover's arms. "That fucking sucked."

She kissed the top of her head. "I can only imagine."

Piper pulled back. "I just want to go to sleep. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, of course, babe."

They made their way to the bathroom and silently washed their faces, brushed their teeth and put on whatever they deemed "pajamas." For Alex, that was a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and underwear. For Piper, it was a matching purple and ivory-laced matching set of tank top and shorts.

They snuggled under the covers and exhaled at the same time.

"Thank you for defending me," Alex whispered with a kiss on her lover's ear.

She squeezed the brunette's hand, which was resting on her stomach. "I was defending _us_."

"Well, I appreciate it."

"Good night, Alex. I love you," Piper said with a sleepy sigh.

"Love you, too."


	13. Chapter 13

Rated M for Mature. Thank you all for the feedback so far!

* * *

To say that their friendship as well as their working relationship was tense over the next month was an understatement. Piper had brought Polly coffee, bagels and flowers…nothing made the other woman budge. Polly was civil to her, but she was still cold.

"Are you staying at Alex's place tonight?" Polly asked as she shuffled papers on the conference table.

Piper couldn't recall a time when her friend had even mentioned Alex's name other than the night of the big fight. "Why do you ask?"

"I was going to see if you wanted to go to happy hour next door." She shrugged, averting her eyes.

The blonde blinked heavily. "Even if I _was_ spending the night at Alex's, you could still ask me to go to happy hour."

Polly looked directly at her. "I just don't want to hear that you can only stay for an hour because you have to get home to her."

She was hurt by her friend's statement and more than a little upset that Polly still seemed to hate her lover.

"It's been a month, Polly." She put one hand on her hip, cocking out her right leg. "Our sales are through the roof, Belle is rebranding and focusing on men's products, and you _still_ hold animosity towards Alex. Isn't it time to throw in the towel?"

"Like this is some sort of boxing match?" she huffed. "I haven't liked that woman since the first time we met, when she interviewed for our sales position. She sold drugs for a living, and she works for our major competitor!"

"She was in a drug ring eight years ago when she was young and naive. Even if the feds found out about her involvement, the statute of limitations has expired!" Piper huffed and shook her head. "I'm not even going to comment on the whole Belle versus Poppi crap that we've already fleshed out."

She took a step closer to her business partner, feeling more frustrated than ever. "I am _sick_ and _tired_ of defending Alex to you and getting your cold shoulder every fucking day. I'm giving you another week to treat me like your friend first and your business partner second. If you can't put this shit behind us…" she paused. "I want out of this thing with you." She clenched her jaw, not backing down an inch.

Polly looked stunned and turned around, perhaps so that her partner couldn't see her expression. Piper gathered the files she'd been working on, shoved them under her arm, and then stormed out of the conference room to her office.

Her first reaction was to call Alex to complain about Polly's stubbornness, but she thought better of it. The last thing she wanted was for her lover to dislike her friend even more. If she was being honest, there was no love lost on either women, and Piper didn't know if that would _ever_ change.

Minutes later, Polly appeared in her doorway. "Was that a 'yes' to happy hour?"

The blonde was astonished at the request after she'd just chewed her friend out. "Not if you're going to criticize Alex the whole time."

"I won't." Polly lowered her head and took a step into Piper's office. "I want you to tell me about her—why you love her. I have to assume she's not all bad if she's won you over."

Piper's frown was still firmly in place. "She's not."

"But you have to tell me at least one thing that you hate about her so I can feel even a tiny bit validated." She grinned.

"Let me think about that." She returned the grin.

"I'll expect an answer by the time we're on our second glass of wine." With that, the brunette left her partner's office.

The blonde closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, hoping that she could convince her friend that Alex was one in a million.

* * *

The Italian restaurant was already crowded that evening, but as luck would have it, there were two empty bar stools. The women sat down and each ordered a glass of wine—white for Piper and red for Polly.

"So, has Pete fully recovered from the accident?" Piper asked, sipping her Pinot Grigio.

"Yeah, but that bruise took a solid three weeks to heal."

Silence descended upon them, and Piper realized she'd already drank half of her glass of wine.

"So, what do you want to know about Alex?" she tried.

"I don't know…" Polly took a sip of wine. "Why'd you fall for _her_ of all people?"

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You already know I thought she was hot after we interviewed her last year."

"Pete thinks she's hot, too, by the way," she replied.

"He said that?"

Polly nodded. "He's been gnawing at me, trying to get me to like her after the two of them finished your sushi dinner at Inakaya."

"Alex seemed to like him, too."

"That's something, I guess." She sipped her Merlot. "So what is it besides Alex's supposed hotness that attracted you to her?"

"Let's see…" Piper hadn't consciously thought about what attracted her to the brunette, so voicing a list of attributes that she liked about Alex, she figured, could be good for both of them. "She's wicked smart, and she's a great conversationalist. She can talk about anything from foreign relations to hip hop. The only thing she knows virtually nothing about is sports, which is fine with me." She stopped to drink her wine. "She enjoys eating healthy and taking care of her body. We try to practice yoga together at least once a week."

"Wait a minute…" Polly raised her brows as it dawned on her. "Was _she_ the yoga friend that you told me about all last fall?"

The blonde blushed. "Yes."

"I should've picked up on that."

Piper was thankful that her admission didn't lead to another argument and quickly continued listing the things she loved about Alex.

Two glasses of wine later, Polly turned to her friend and smiled. "You realize you've been talking about Alex for the last hour?"

Piper glanced at her watch, feeling guilty for monopolizing the conversation.

"Don't worry about it." The brunette placed her hand on Piper's leg. "I asked you to tell me what you like about her, and clearly there's a lot."

She tilted her head. "There is, Polly. I hope that one day you can see that for yourself."

"I have an idea," she offered. "Why don't the two of you come over for dinner next weekend?"

"Really?" Her eyebrows shot up.

"Pete would love ogling her if nothing else." She rolled her eyes.

The blonde chuckled. "I'll check with Alex. Thank you."

The women ate a few appetizers and talked about possible vacations, family, work and the weather until it was nearly 8 p.m. Polly announced that she should be getting home, and Piper couldn't wait to tell her lover about how her day ended.

* * *

As Piper finished getting ready for the dinner party that evening, Alex hopped out of the shower with a different idea. She wrapped her naked, damp body against her lover's, kissing her behind the ear.

"You're getting me all wet!" The blonde complained.

She gave her lover a mischievous smile. "That's the idea."

"Not _that_ kind of wet, Alex." She fastened her gold hoop earring.

"Then I must be doing something wrong." She spun Piper around, backing her up against the cold tiled wall and pinned her arms above her head as she kissed her soundly.

"We don't have time for this," Piper mumbled against her lips.

Alex felt the blonde's tongue snake inside her mouth despite her protestations.

The brunette smiled. "We'll be quick. I want to make that video we talked about."

She pulled back, lips slightly swollen. "We _definitely_ don't have time for that."

"We do," Alex replied. "We'll take Uber instead of the Subway, and I'll pay." She kissed a line down Piper's neck. "I want you so badly right now, babe."

Piper had already put on a pair of jeans and an orange button-down shirt, but the brunette began unfastening the buttons one by one as she slid down her body. "I'm going to get my iPhone."

"This is a terrible idea," the blonde called, hooking the three buttons that Alex had managed to undo.

Alex smiled at the fact that Piper didn't _demand_ that they not have sex right then and there for fear of being late. She realized that the blonde would chastise her for the shit-eating grin she sported when she re-entered the bathroom with her iPhone.

Alex set the phone on the window ledge and angled it where they would be standing by putting a bar of soap on either side of the device.

"How am I supposed to act?" Piper asked a little bashfully.

The brunette wrapped a towel around her body, pushing the corner under her arm to secure it. "You're not supposed to act at all…just enjoy. Be yourself."

"I'm assuming that means you're the one who's going to pleasure me instead of the other way around?"

Alex was mildly annoyed that the blonde had already refastened her buttons, so she needed to speed up the process a bit. She moved closer to her lover, kissing her hard on the mouth while running her hands over her breasts and finally onto the top button. Alex skillfully undid three buttons all while keeping their mouths fused together.

When Piper's blouse was wide enough to stick her hands inside, Alex did just that, rubbing her palms against the blonde's ribs and forcing the shirt slightly off of Piper's shoulders. She leaned down, kissing her lover's chest and moving her hands to her ass. When Piper moaned, she knew that she was like putty in her hands.

"You can do me next time," Alex said between kisses.

Piper threw her head back and tangled her hands in her lover's black hair. Alex reached around and unzipped the blonde's tight jeans enough to snake her hands into them and onto Piper's hips.

Piper bucked forward as Alex bent even further to suck a nipple into her mouth around the red-laced fabric of her bra. "Mmm…"

The blonde opened her eyes and pulled Alex back up to fuse their mouths together. She kept her hands snarled in Alex's hair as the brunette tugged her lower lip and kissed the other woman with gusto. Alex's towel fell off, and she tried to catch it, but Piper knocked her hand away and looked at her lover's naked body.

With one swift movement, Piper turned Alex around and shoved her against the wall where she'd previously stood and quickly dropped to her knees. "Fuck next time." She used her fingers to open Alex's folds, and then devoured her pussy.

"Ungh, Piper!" It was Alex's turn to toss her head back and shut her eyes. She bit her lower lip as her hands came to rest on the blonde's head.

"Cum in my mouth," Piper demanded, inserting one and then two fingers inside Alex's opening. She bathed her sensitive nub with her lips and tongue as her fingers moved quickly in and out, creating a squirting noise that nearly drove the brunette insane.

"I'm cuming! Oh, _fuck_ , Piper…Ungh…Mmm…Piper!" Alex did exactly as she was told and was rocked with a powerful orgasm.

The blonde licked her clean, swallowing her juices and then wiping her chin with her orange sleeve as she stood fully.

"Holy shit," Alex panted. "I did _not_ expect that."

"Well, then…" Piper smirked and slapped her lover on the ass. "You should raise your expectations." She walked into the bedroom and called over her shoulder. "Oh, and turn that video off."

* * *

The women were running only 15 minutes late, and Alex did as she promised and ordered an Uber so that they could make up time on the road.

Once they were settled in the black sedan, the brunette grabbed Piper's hand. "I wish you wouldn't have changed your shirt."

Piper lifted her eyebrows. "So my sleeve could smell like pussy all night?"

"Say 'pussy' again," Alex requested as she leaned in to kiss her lover on the cheek.

The Uber driver looked at them through the rearview mirror with a smile.

"Want to give him a little show?" Alex whispered, planting a kiss on the side of her mouth.

"No." Piper swatted her away. "We made our _own_ little show already."

Alex couldn't wait to get back home to watch said show and was hoping that this would be a quick dinner so she could do just that.

They arrived at Polly and Pete's brownstone and stopped on the steps before entering the building. Both women sobered and took a deep breath.

"You ok?" The brunette asked, fixing Piper's collar.

She nodded.

"When you're ready to leave, just say the word." She kissed the blonde on the nose. "Here we go."


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks for the kind reviews. Also, thank you to the guest who pointed out that Pete is Australian, not British. My bad.

* * *

Piper knocked on the door, and they were quickly greeted by their hosts. The four exchanged greetings, and Polly actually shook Alex's hand. The couples made their way into the kitchen and Pete offered to make pre-dinner cocktails. Both Piper and Alex opted for margaritas, and Polly requested the same.

"A pitcher of margaritas, then," Pete said with a clap of his hands.

"Although the dinner is homemade, the guacamole is definitely not." Polly set out one bowl of salsa and one of guacamole. "I hope you both like enchiladas."

"There are very few things I don't eat," Alex commented, standing behind to Piper, who had taken a seat at the island.

"Can we help with anything?" The blonde offered, popping a tortilla chip into her mouth.

Polly smiled at her friend. "I think we've got it under control."

The couples made small talk over the pitcher of margaritas, and Pete made another batch with Alex's assistance.

"How do you think it's going so far?" The man whispered.

"You don't have to whisper," Alex chuckled. "I don't think they can hear us."

The women were in the living room, discussing the merits of airline credit cards and mileage benefits as Dave Brubeck played lightly in the background.

"If all we do is talk about credit cards, food and the weather all evening, it'll be fine," she offered. "But the second someone talks about work, it'll go downhill fast."

"Let's make this interesting." Pete poured half a bottle of Jose Cuervo into the pitcher. "If work comes up _before_ dinner, I'll give you 10 bucks. If it comes up _during_ dinner, you owe me $10."

Alex held a laugh in her throat. "What if it doesn't come up until after dinner?"

He gave her a look, suggesting that would be impossible.

She raised a hand. "Ok, deal."

Alex squeezed an orange into the pitcher as Pete filled it the rest of the way with pre-made margarita mix. She appreciated the man's sense of humor and was surprised that she actually enjoyed his company. It had been years since Alex appreciated anything about men, Kenyon notwithstanding.

The surface-level conversation continued for another 20 minutes, but Alex noted that Polly didn't ask her questions or really even include her in the discussion. She wondered if Piper picked up on that, but she could sense that her lover was getting a bit drunker by the minute.

"Have you told Alex about our charity project?" Polly chomped a piece of ice.

Piper's eyes looked like saucers. "We don't talk about work very much. You know that."

Alex, who was seated next to the blonde, put her hand on Piper's leg. "What charity project?" She could feel her lover's glare.

"For the month of September, we're donating 10% of sales to the Women's Prison Association," Polly replied.

"I think that's great." She chanced a look at Pete, who raised his glass to her. It was the fastest $10 she'd ever made.

"What's the soap going to smell like—urine and rotten bananas?" Pete asked around a laugh.

Alex couldn't help her own mirth. Piper smiled and grabbed Alex's hand off her leg, entwining their fingers.

Polly glared at her boyfriend. "What the fuck, Pete?"

"Oh, I'm making a joke, honey!" He drained his glass. " _They_ think it's funny."

"It _is_ funny," Alex responded, and her smile slowly faded as she directed her attention to Polly. "Especially since you know that work is a precarious topic."

"I was just making conversation." Polly shrugged.

"No, you weren't." Alex squeezed her lover's hand before letting go and leaning back casually. "You're either trying to make me feel uncomfortable, which would be a shame since you invited me to your home, or you're probing me for information about my company. Either way, your comment was intentional."

Piper glanced at her lover. "She was just trying to tell you about our charity work, that's all."

Polly looked down, and then directly at Alex. "Work is about the only thing that we have in common, so if my comment made you uncomfortable, I'm sorry."

"It's not, actually." She nudged her glasses up. "We have Piper in common, so if you want to discuss the merits of Piper Chapman, by all means, let's discuss."

"I think it's time for dinner." Pete stood. "Polly, why don't you make the salad while I grab the enchiladas out of the oven."

His girlfriend followed him into the kitchen, and as soon as they disappeared, Piper turned on Alex. "What the hell?"

"You're angry at _me_?" She jutted her thumb towards her chest. "She fucking started it!"

"Don't let her get to you, Alex!" Piper whisper-yelled. "I will have words with her tomorrow, but for tonight, please just try to play nice."

The brunette kissed her forehead, and then rubbed her lipstick mark with the pad of her thumb. "Ok."

The couples sat at the table, and Pete offered a toast to new and old friends. Alex clinked her glass against Polly's, but the other woman didn't make eye contact. The conversation returned to plans for the end of summer, and Alex was pleased that work didn't surface again.

"The enchiladas were delicious," Alex offered, pushing her now empty plate away.

"Did you know that enchiladas were mentioned in the first Mexican cookbook in 1831?" Piper asked around her last bite.

Alex threw her arm over the back of her lover's chair, delighted at her obscure knowledge. "No, I did not know that."

"The cookbook is called _El Cocinera Mexicano_ ," she said in a Spanish accent. "Which translates to the Mexican chef."

"How do you come up with this shit?" Alex smirked.

"I read a lot." She shrugged, placing her hand on Alex's thigh under the table. "You know that."

Alex leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "I hope that wasn't too much PDA for you."

"It wasn't enough, actually," Pete said.

Polly frowned at him, while Alex chuckled.

All four of them helped with dishes, and Piper announced that she was too full and too sleepy to stay for dessert. Alex concurred and thanked their hosts for dinner. Pete hugged both women goodbye, but Polly simply waved. The brunette was fine with her gesture and didn't feel any more of a kinship with the other woman than she had prior to this event.

She put her hand at the small of Piper's back as they made their way down the stairs and nearly ran into a man coming out of his apartment.

The blonde looked like she'd seen a ghost. "Larry?"

"Piper? What are you…" He clenched his jaw when he spotted the dark haired woman. "You must be the infamous Alex."

"Infamous?" Alex chuckled. "That's a new one, though I'd prefer _scandalous_. I'm assuming you heard about me from Polly. Don't worry, we're best friends now, and I'm sure the next time she sees you, she'll sing my praises," she said sarcastically.

Piper squeezed the brunette's thigh, seemingly trying to get her to shut up.

"How do you sleep at night, knowing you wrecked a friendship?" Larry crossed his arms.

She gave him her best smug look. "I sleep _very_ well with your ex-girlfriend next to me."

"Enough!" Piper shot daggers at both of them. "Larry, my business is no longer yours. Alex, let's go."

"Pathetic," Larry whispered under his breath with the shake of his head.

Alex couldn't take it anymore. She spun around and pinned him against the wall. "You know what's pathetic, you little shrew? That you and your biggest fan upstairs don't have enough _respect_ for Piper to allow her to be happy!" She crushed his neck with her forearm. "You're a selfish fucking prick!" She released her grip on him and backed away. "Go to hell, midget."

" _Alex_!" The blonde gasped, tugging her away.

She was so fucking pissed that she yanked her arm out of Piper's grasp and headed down the steps, taking two at a time. The blonde was 20 seconds behind her and found her pacing on the sidewalk.

"What has gotten into you?" Piper asked with worry etched on her face.

Alex ran a hand through her hair. "They don't deserve you in their lives!"

"You don't get to determine who I have in my life," she spat back.

"Don't you get it?" The brunette stopped pacing and faced her lover. "Polly's using you for the sake of your company! She doesn't approve of your relationship with me, and she never will!"

Her arms opened to the heavens. "We have been friends for 20 years, Alex! She's my oldest friend!"

"Sometimes friendships end because people grow in different directions." The brunette shrugged. She put her thumb and index finger under her glasses to rub her eyes. "Look, I'm not going to dictate who you should be friends with, but I'm telling you that Polly is jealous of your relationship with me. She wants you to be with Larry so that the four of you could be merry fucking couples and spend holidays together and raise your children together." She clenched her jaw. "She probably told Larry that you were leaving her apartment just so he'd run into us."

"That's absurd!"

"Is it? Really, is it _that_ absurd?"

Piper shook her head and walked in the opposite direction. When she didn't turn around, Alex called for her. The brunette jogged to catch up. "Piper, wait!"

When the blonde turned around, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

" _Babe_ ," Alex said in a verbal caress. "Don't cry."

"How am I not supposed to cry when you say things like that?" She swiped her tears away.

Alex tilted her head and ran her thumb over the blonde's red cheek.

"I know what you said is true, and that fucking hurts." Piper crumbled in half, putting her hands on her knees and sobbing.

"I know it does, Pipes." The brunette bent over and rubbed her back. "Let's go home. I'll make you a bubble bath, and we'll talk if you want, and if not, that's ok, too."

The blonde nodded and slowly stood. "My apartment is two blocks away. Let's just go there."

"Ok." She kissed her temple and wrapped an arm tightly around Piper's waist.

* * *

Alex had only been to her apartment once, and it was a brief stop to allow Piper to change clothes after their sweaty walk in the North part of Central Park at the beginning of summer. The blonde used to enjoy spending time at her apartment, but Alex's home had begun to feel more like her own home than the place where she still paid rent.

The brunette did as she promised and drew a bath for her lover, and Piper squeezed a bottle of Mr. Bubble into the tub.

"That's what you use?" Alex grinned up at her.

She shrugged, feeling all the weight of the evening in her bones. "I like the smell, and the bubbles last a long time."

The brunette, who was sitting on the ledge, leaned over and kissed her jean-clad thigh, hooking an arm around it. "I've been racking my brain, trying to place your smell, and this is it."

"When I'm here, it is." She removed her shirt, and then her bra. "But when I'm at your place, I don't take baths."

"Why not?" She unhooked her arm.

"I don't know." The blonde shrugged again. "I've always loved baths."

"Maybe you should change that." She put her hand under the running water to gauge the temperature.

Piper could see the wheels turning in Alex's head.

She twisted the faucet off and turned to face her lover. "Move in with me."

The blonde's eyes widened. "What?"

"Move in with me." Alex scooted her butt on the ledge of the tub until she was able to pull Piper between her legs. She placed her hands on the backs of the blonde's knees. "There's no sense in paying rent here when you spend almost every night with me."

"Is this something you're suggesting from a practical standpoint?"

"That's one side of it." She craned her neck. "The other side is that I love waking up with you, and the mornings when you're not next to me, I reach for you and my heart sinks when you're not there."

A tiny smile tugged at Piper's lips. It was rare to see Alex's vulnerable side, so when she witnessed it, Piper took it very seriously and tried to catalogue it. She reached down to place a hand on her lover's head. "Really?"

She nodded.

"I'd like that." The blonde crouched down until their foreheads rested against each other's. "I'd like that a lot."

"Good." Alex threw her arms around her lover and kissed the crook of her neck. "Get in the tub before the water gets cold."

She pulled back at a still smiling Piper. "Ok."

The blonde stepped out of her jeans and into the warm water, feeling the tension release from her body the minute she was fully immersed in the bubbles. _It was as easy as that_ , she thought. She reflected on the time when Larry had asked her to move in with him and smiled at the difference in her discernment process.

Their jobs notwithstanding, _everything_ was easy with Alex—from falling in love with her to talking about commonplace events to agreeing to move in together.

"How does the bath feel?" The brunette asked.

She shut her eyes. "Absolutely amazing."

"I'm going to leave you alone for a bit." She leaned over, kissing Piper on the lips. "Enjoy."

Piper opened her mouth to protest and ask Alex to join her, but then she accepted her lover's offer to spend what could possibly be her last bubble bath in her home. She sighed, thinking of the memories she had of her first apartment on her own without a roommate, and then a smile surfaced at where she was headed. She felt a giggle in her throat as she melted into the soothing water.

* * *

Two weeks passed and Alex hadn't heard a peep about Polly (or Larry for that matter) from Piper. It wasn't that she didn't ask; rather, the blonde didn't want to discuss her relationship with Polly at home. Alex asked if they were doing ok at work, and all she got was, "We're managing."

Things at Belle were kicking into high gear with the launch of Beau for Brooks Brothers, and Gloria had to hire a team of temporary workers to assist Margeaux and help with the packaging and distribution. Initially, they decided to go with two fragrances in soap and lotion format. The first was called, Barber Shop and smelled a like shaving cream and fresh towels. The second didn't have a specific name, but the scents listed on the gray label were Bourbon, leather & tobacco. At first, Alex complained that buyers would steer clear because they'd think it smelled like a bar, but it tested even higher than Barber Shop (and was Kenyon's favorite.)

Although Beau was the company's top priority, they still had to fulfill commitments for their Belle products. Gloria wasn't ready to give up on Belle, especially if the men's line of products didn't take off the way they'd hoped, so Alex still had to work diligently at placing the Belle products in stores.

Just before lunch that day, the brunette received a text that piqued her interest. She dialed Piper's number and hoped that her lover would pick up in the middle of the day.

"Hi," the blonde answered.

"Hey. How's it going?" She could hear city noises in the background.

"Fine. I just ran out to pick up something for lunch." She was breathing a little heavy, and Alex guessed she was in a rush.

"I'm about to eat mine."

"You don't usually call in the middle of the day. Is everything alright?" Piper asked.

"You'll never guess who just texted me." She stabbed a piece of Romaine with her fork. "Pete."

"Pete? As in Polly's Pete?" Her voice sounded closer.

"I'm assuming. He's the only Pete I know." She chomped on her salad.

"What does he want from you?"

She swallowed the lettuce. "He asked me to meet him after work to shoot some pool."

"Huh." The blonde left it at that.

"Any guesses why he'd reach out to me?" She took a sip of water.

"I know he likes you," Piper stated. "Maybe he's just trying to get to know you better. At least _he_ understands that you're in my life permanently."

"Permanently?" Alex grinned.

"I'm not giving you up any time soon, so don't even think about ditching me," the blonde replied.

"You're turning me on, babe," she lowered her voice. "Maybe we can watch our video again tonight?"

"Alex!" She shouted. "People can hear you! Besides, if that video was on a VHS tape, it would be worn out by now."

"Lucky for us it's not," she said with a smirk.

"I'm about to order my lunch, so I have to go. You should play pool tonight with Pete; figure out what he's up to."

"I will. Have a good rest of your day." She popped a cucumber into her mouth.

"You, too. Bye."

Alex got up and closed her office door, making sure it was locked. She sat back down, turned on her phone and found their one and only sex video. If Piper wouldn't bite, she'd have to take matters into her own hands.

* * *

The brunette showed up at Amsterdam Billiards at 6:45 and searched the crowd for Pete. There were no more than 10 women in the bar—most of the occupants were blue collared men.

"Alex, hi!" Pete approached her with a pitcher of beer. "Hope you like Guinness. I'm not Irish, but it's a damn fine stout."

She took the two frosted mugs from his other hand. "I pegged you as more of a Boddington's guy."

"Boddington's tastes like pussy juice!" He put one arm around her in a half-hug.

"Must be why I like it so much," she joked.

He laughed and began pouring the beer. "I'm glad you were free this evening."

She stuck one hand in her jeans pocket. "What's the occasion?"

"I just thought you'd be fun to hang out." He shrugged. "I got us a table over there if you're up for a round of billiards."

"Why not?" She followed him and took a sip of the dark liquid.

They made small talk while playing pool, and neither opponent was very skilled at sinking anything other than the cue ball. Alex had won the first game, which meant the first pitcher was on Pete.

"I don't believe it," came a voice from behind a wooden column.

Alex spun around, dabbing blue chalk onto the tip of her pool stick. She narrowed her eyes at Pete. "Is this a fucking set up?"

"Relax, ladies." He put his hands out.

"Did you know about this?" She asked Polly.

The other brunette shook her head. "No."

Alex raised her eyebrows at Pete. "Does Piper know about this?"

"No." He stood between the two women. "Alex, I really like you, and I can see why Piper is attracted to you." He turned to his girlfriend. "Polly, this is the person that you best friend is in love with. Can't you _try_ to like her?"

"I _did_ ," she shouted. "Didn't turn out the way I'd hoped!"

"I'm actually glad that Pete brought us together, because there are a few things I want to get straight with you." She set her pool cue against the table. "I realize I blew the interview with you a year ago. I also know what you think of my criminal past, which has been behind me for a long fucking time. But what I _don't_ get is why you keep holding this grudge—is it because I'm a woman?"

"No." Polly crossed her arms.

"Is it because you miss your little foursome with Larry?" She mirrored the other woman's position.

"We did a lot together. I'll admit I miss the bond that the four of us shared." At least Polly wasn't yelling.

"I would understand your feelings if this was two or three months after Piper and Larry broke up, but _it has been a year_ ," Alex emphasized. "She doesn't love him, Polly! She loves me, and you need to fucking accept that if you want her in your life as a friend. If all you care about is Poppi's bottom line, then let her know that, because what I see is a selfish, _jealous_ woman who's trying to make Piper miserable."

"I am not trying to make her miserable," Polly squabbled. "I care deeply about her, and…"

"No, you don't!" Alex interrupted with a firm shake of her head. "If you did, you'd accept the fact that we're in this for the long haul."

The other woman looked down, and then back up at her. "If you care so much about Piper, why didn't you quit your fucking job when things got serious and do something in a totally different field?"

"Other than restaurants and bars, there are very few places that will hire someone without a college degree," she snapped back. "I wanted more than that, and Belle happened to take a chance on me."

"Does Gloria know about your involvement in the drug ring?"

"I was involved with the cartel almost ten years ago, and I was never arrested. It's not on my record, and it never will be." Alex clenched her jaw. "Not that she would fire me if she found out, but if she does, I'll know who fucking snitched, and believe me, woman, I would make you _pay_."

"Is that a threat?"

"Call it whatever you'd like." Alex took a step closer. "While we're on the subject of my job, let me tell you a little secret, since you seem to think that's why I'm with Piper anyway." She stood as tall as she could so that she was looking down at Polly. "I single-handedly turned the focus of Belle to a completely different demographic so that we wouldn't be in direct competition with Poppi. I didn't do that because I'm a savvy business woman, trying to tap into a new market. I did it for Piper—because I don't want to continue to see her stressed out about our competing companies. _That_ is love." She jutted her chin out. "You wouldn't know a thing about the subject."

If she had a microphone in hand, she'd have dropped it. Alex walked over to where Pete was standing with his mouth slightly open and picked up her beer. She took a long, satisfying gulp.

"You did that for Piper?" She asked skeptically.

Alex shrugged.

"So you _do_ love her?"

"Did you think we were lying?" Alex laughed incredulously. " _Yes_ , I fucking love her! Piper's the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I'll do anything to make her happy."

She lifted her brows. "Even be friends with me?"

"I don't know if you and I will ever really like each other." Alex set her beer back down. "But I'm willing to play nice for Piper's sake."

"Me, too." Polly hung her head. "You _are_ a talented business woman, by the way."

"Damn right, I am." She smirked.

"Are we gonna finish this game, or what?" Pete asked as he threw an arm around both women.

"It'll just be another two shots before I beat you for the second time." Alex picked up her pool cue again and aimed at the yellow ball.

"I'm guessing you're stripes, hon," Polly said to her boyfriend.

He frowned. "Unfortunately, you are correct."

Alex and Polly didn't talk directly to each other without Pete involved in some way for the next 20 minutes, but they were in the same room and didn't kill each other. To Alex, that was a victory in and of itself.

She didn't know how long their truce would last, but Alex planned to keep up her end of the bargain. If she could prevent her lover from being hurt or feeling like she was caught in the middle, she'd do anything in her power to make that happen.

* * *

Epilogue coming your way soon.


	15. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

* * *

"I'm home!" Piper barreled in with cloth grocery bags hanging off of both arms. "Alex! A little help, please."

"I thought you were only going to pick up a few things." The brunette rushed to her side and grabbed three of the five bags and brought them into the kitchen.

She rubbed the creases on one arm where the straps had been. "What can I say, I went a little Thanksgiving crazy."

"This is Thanksgiving _normal_ to you." She kissed Piper on top of her head and peeked inside one of the bags. "Did you buy every yam in the store?"

Piper ignored her partner's insinuation that she'd bought too many spuds and walked into the living room. "Are they here yet?" She let out a light huff as she plopped into a chair.

"Do you hear the pitter patter of little feet?" Alex called from the kitchen. "They're on their way."

"Don't sound too excited." The blonde rubbed her belly.

Alex joined her in the other room. "You know how I feel about kids." She moved behind Piper to rub her shoulders.

Piper bent her neck, allowing the brunette to continue her ministrations. "Then a bolt of lightning better strike you to make your change your mind."

"Is that what would do it?" Alex chuckled. "A bolt of lightning?"

The blonde flopped her head back and looked at Alex upside down. "You're carrying the next one."

Alex couldn't resist the opportunity to kiss the blonde's waiting mouth. "What do you mean, _the next one_?"

"We can't have just one child, Alex. She'll get spoiled and have poor social skills."

"I'm an only child and turned out just fine. One little hellion is all I can take." The brunette leaned down, halfway over Piper, to rub her pregnant belly. "Do you hear that, little one—you're all mommy can handle."

"Not _this_ mommy." Piper covered Alex's hand on her stomach with her own. "I already know she'll love me more."

Alex snorted. "I'll be the _cool_ mom who lets her dye her hair purple at the age of five, so your cool factor will likely be significantly less than mine."

"Alex!" She slapped her lover's hand.

A knock at the door forced the brunette into a standing position. She placed another kiss on Piper's head before walking over to the entryway. "Welcome."

"Awex!" Finn hugged her leg. "I got a new dump truck! Wanna play?"

"Thank God we're having a girl," Alex said under her breath as she hugged the boy.

Finn looked up at his mom, and then back at Alex. "Oh, I forgot. My mommy said to call you Aunt Awex."

She patted his head and grinned at Polly.

"What can I say?" Polly shrugged and gave Alex a slight smile. "It's been five years and you don't seem to be moving on, so I figured it was about time for Finn to consider you part of his family."

It was the first time Polly had said anything even remotely accepting of Alex in Piper's life, so to say that the dark haired woman was shocked was a severe understatement.

"What gave it away, the fact that Piper and I have been married for two years, or that we're having a child together?" Alex asked.

Pete showed up a moment later with Finn's duffle bag strapped over one shoulder, and two grocery bags over the other. "Parking is such a bitch around here." He hugged Alex with one arm.

"Reason number 22 why we don't have a car." She returned the hug, and then took the bags from him.

Piper had finally wobbled over and grabbed the pumpkin pie out of Polly's hands and kissed her on the cheek. "Happy Thanksgiving, Pol." She ruffled the little boy's hair. "Hey, Finn, I have a surprise for you."

He jumped up and down. "I want it!"

"Maybe we should get beyond the doorway first," Polly suggested, pushing her son into the apartment with her knee.

"Where is it, Aunt Piper?" Finn tugged on her sweater.

"I'll get it in just a second. Let me show your dad something in the kitchen." She hugged Pete as they made their way into the other room.

"You look like you swallowed the blimp," Pete offered.

Polly slapped him. "Pete!"

"It's ok," the blonde said, rubbing her belly. "I feel like I swallowed the blimp. One more month."

"How are you feeling?" Her friend asked. "I remember the third trimester being completely uncomfortable."

Finn ran into the kitchen. "Where's the supwise?"

Alex set the bags on the ground. "Want me to get it for him?"

Piper nodded and ran her hand down her wife's arm. "Thanks, babe."

The toddler and Alex left the room.

"I don't know how single moms do it," Piper commented. "Even with the pregnancy, I can't imagine not having Alex around to help with everything from washing my legs in the shower to putting on socks and shoes."

"Let's talk about the shower thing," Pete replied with the wiggle of his eyebrows as he unpacked the groceries.

"You're disgusting." His wife rolled her eyes.

The blonde chuckled. "You ready to do some major cooking?"

The man clapped his hands. "Put me to work, ladies."

She reviewed the recipes with Pete and showed him where all of the ingredients were stored. "I really appreciate this."

"It's the least I can do." He patted her on the back. "Why don't you go kick up your feet? I remember Polly's ankles swelling to the size of grapefruits when she was this far along."

"Mine are the size of pumpkins." Piper walked into the other room to find Finn and Alex sitting on the floor as the boy ripped open his gift.

"Dinosaws! I wove dinosaws!" He shook the box.

"Let me help you." Alex opened the packaging and dumped out the 40 piece Animal Planet set of dinosaurs.

"There's even a mat that you put underneath the dinosaurs that looks like a jungle." Piper stood next to her lover, who hooked her arm around the blonde's calf.

"I wove it!" Finn stood and hugged Alex and then Piper, then ran into the kitchen with the box. "Mommy, daddy, wook what aunts gave me!"

The blonde looked down at her wife, running a hand through her black hair. "You're going to be good at this."

Alex smiled tenderly up at her. "I hope so."

* * *

Pete and Alex cooked for several hours into the early afternoon, while Polly and Piper alternated between playing with Finn and chatting about work. For the past month, the blonde only went to the office two days a week, and those were often half days, so this was an opportunity for the business partners to catch up.

"So how's work?" Pete asked Alex as he mashed the yams.

"Now that we don't own Belle anymore and can focus on Beau, it's great." She basted the turkey. "I actually have a normal work week."

He tasted the yams, and then added salt. "Who bought Belle again?"

"Urban Decay." She shut the oven. "I still think we could've gotten more than $10 million, but Gloria was jumped at the offer."

"That's a shit ton of money!" Pete raised his eyebrows. "No wonder you bought the unit downstairs. When I came in, I saw the plastic tarps hanging over the massive hole in the wall. How are the renovations going?"

"Slower than expected," she sighed. "We were hoping to have everything done by the time the baby was born, but construction will probably go into March. We'll have to move out for, like, a month when they add the staircase between the lower unit and this one."

"Are they going to rip out this kitchen?"

"Yeah, we can't have a house with two kitchens." She rinsed the cranberries. "The plan is to have the main living area downstairs, including an office, and three bedrooms up here. So where we're standing right now will be a guest room."

"That's hard to imagine." Pete spooned the yams into a decorative bowl. "How much time is left for the turkey?"

She leaned over and looked at the yellow clock. "Just under an hour."

"Perfect."

With Pete giving her clear instructions on what to chop or stir and how to baste the bird, Alex felt comfortable in the kitchen, but without him there, she wouldn't have stood a chance. They finished all of the side dishes just as the buzzer went off, indicating that the turkey was done.

"You hanging in there?" Alex helped her lover stand before proceeding to the kitchen table.

"A premature baby sounds really good right about now." She curved her back into a deep stretch.

"Please don't say that." The brunette took Piper's hand and walked her to the table. "I am not prepared to swaddle just yet."

When they were all seated, Alex proposed a toast. "We all have a lot of shit to be thankful for this year."

"Aunt Awex said, _shit_ ," Finn giggled.

Polly glared at her, and her wife slapped her leg under the table.

"Sorry, kid. I meant _stuff_ ," she replied. "Even though Polly and I got off to a rocky start all those years ago, I'm grateful that we can be in the same room without wanting to slit each other's throats."

"Not the most eloquent way of saying it, but I'll accept that," Polly sighed, a tiny grin turning up the corners of her mouth.

"I'm grateful to Pete for helping all of us find humor in what has been a tumultuous few years." She raised her glass to him. "I'm thankful for this little nugget for showing me that not all kids are pains in the ass." She tapped her glass against his sippy cup and he laughed. "Cheers!" Finn exclaimed.

"When did he learn that?" Polly asked.

Alex scratched her forehead. "I might've taught him when he came for a sleepover last week."

"Way to go, kid!" Pete said, clinking his glass against his son's. "Cheers!"

Polly rolled her eyes.

The dark haired woman cleared her throat, hoping to finish her toast on a high note. "I'm eternally grateful to my wife for agreeing to share her life with me." She turned to Piper. "We don't say, 'I love you' as often as we used to, babe, but I love you more than you'll ever know, and I can't wait to raise our daughter together."

Alex leaned down and kissed the blonde.

"I love you," Piper whispered as she covered her wife's cheek with her free hand.

They all clinked their glasses in an array of "Cheers" before diving into the massive feast.

Alex participated fully in the reverie, laughing at Pete's stories, taking Polly's suggestions about pre-schools into consideration, and watching Finn pick out the bell peppers in the stuffing with his fingers. She admired the way Piper handled the toddler and knew she'd make a fantastic mother.

Five years ago, she never dreamed that they'd all be sharing Thanksgiving dinner together, but here they were, actually enjoying each other's company. This was what her life was supposed to look like, and Alex couldn't wait to make memories with Piper and their baby girl for the rest of their lives.

The End


End file.
